Election Catch Up
The presidential election is coming up in less than two months. For many college students, this is their first time voting for president. It is easy to tune out all the noise surrounding the election during the summer and focus on friends, family and work, and now that the school year has started, many students are far too busy with classes and homework to pay a ton of attention to the presidential race. This article serves as a catch-up on what has happened so far, because this election has been a crazy one.
Main Events
A lot has happened this election cycle. Here are a few of the major events that occurred over the summer regarding the election. This is by no means a comprehensive breakdown, just some basic events that everyone should be familiar with.
To start off, on June 14th President Joe Biden won the Democratic primaries, and former President Donald Trump won the Republican primaries. While this did not solidify either of them as official candidates, it definitely set them on that path. The outcomes of the primaries made it clear that these two men were the top choices of their respective parties.
On July 13th at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump was the target of an assassination attempt. A bullet grazed his ear causing him to bleed and he was rushed off the stage by the Secret Service and survived relatively unharmed. Two other attendees of the rally were shot and wounded and one man, Cory Comparator, was killed. The shooter was identified as Thomas Matthew Cooks and he was shot and killed shortly after being identified. The occurrence of this event led to the resignation of the Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
On July 15th, Former President Donald Trump announced Ohio Senator JD Vance was his Vice President pick and was nominated as the official Republican candidate.
On July 21st, after pressure from both the right and the left, Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race. Many called for him to step down after his performance in the first presidential debate against Trump. Biden initially insisted he was going to stay in the race but ultimately decided to step down. After dropping out, Biden expressed his support for Vice President Kamala Harris. Other prominent figures in the Democratic Party endorsed her as well, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and the Governor of California Gavin Newsom.
On August 6, Vice President Harris announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz would be her running mate. She was officially chosen as the Democratic nominee at the Democratic National Convention not long after. Some have called her nomination undemocratic because she did not have to go through the primary, but regardless of this opinion, she is the official democratic nominee.
Though most of this summer’s events pertaining to the election had to do with the Republicans and the Democrats, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was running as an independent the entire time. Throughout his campaign, he faced difficulties getting his name on the ballot and was not able to debate. Eventually on August 23rd, Kennedy suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump, but his name will remain on the ballot in some states.
Now What?
It is important to be paying attention to the events in an election, but it is equally, if not more important to be paying attention to policies. The candidates have been chosen, what are their plans? Both Harris and Trump now have information on their campaign websites about their positions on major issues including the border, inflation and overseas conflict. A voter can quickly and easily pull these pages up and take a look at each candidate’s plan. For someone who wants to participate in democracy, it does not matter how they vote come November. It only matters that they take time to explore the policies and positions of both candidates.
This article was written by Olivia Notch.