Each presidential campaign has its own twists and turns. And the least we can say is that the 2024 American election has not lacked twists and turns. From the candidacy of Donald Trump to the assassination attempts of which he was the target, and from the renunciation of Joe Biden to the final indictment of Kamala Harris, the race for the White House was not easy for the candidates.
November 15, 2022: Donald Trump announces his candidacy
It all started two years ago. On November 15, 2022, the Republican reveals that he is launching the presidential election. “To restore America to its glory and greatness, I announce my candidacy for president of the United States,” he declared in front of an audience of activists from his residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach , in Florida. After applying to the American electoral authorities, the septuagenarian formalized his third candidacy after those of 2016 and 2020.
April 25, 2023: Joe Biden enters the race for the White House
“Every generation has had a moment when they had to defend democracy. To defend their fundamental freedoms. I believe it’s ours. That’s why I’m running for re-election.” It was through the publication of this message on the social network outgoing also called on his supporters to help him “finish the job”, four years to the day after his last entry into the campaign.
March 5, 2024: a “Super Tuesday” without any big surprises
As usual, “Super Tuesday” was the unmissable event of the American presidential election. On Tuesday, March 5, voters in 15 different states and the Samoa Islands were called to the polls to choose their presidential candidate in the primary elections for the Democratic and Republican parties. Elections which were only a formality for Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The current President of the United States was a hit by winning the Democratic primaries in 15 states, while Donald Trump won 14, conceding Vermont to Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina and ambassador to the United States. United Nations. In view of the results of “Super Tuesday”, the personalities of the Republican camp who wanted to oppose the billionaire, like Nikki Haley, quickly threw in the towel.
May 30, 2024: the Republican is criminally convicted
After several weeks of hearing, the sentence was handed down. This Thursday in May, Donald Trump is found guilty. Guilty of trying to conceal the payment of the sum of $130,000 to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels, to avoid a scandal involving her extramarital affairs. In total, the New York jury found him guilty of 34 counts, without any sentence being announced.
If this was to be pronounced on July 11, the sentence was postponed to September 18 due to partial immunity conferred on Donald Trump by the Supreme Court. Finally, Judge Juan Merchan will prolong the suspense by postponing the announcement for the umpteenth time to November 26, in order to avoid “any appearance – however unjustified – that the procedure has been affected or seeks to affect the election presidential election which is approaching. Beyond having been the first former American president at the heart of a trial, Donald Trump could also be the first to be convicted this month. Currently, the Republican faces up to 4 years in prison.
June 27, 2024: Joe Biden in difficulty during the first debate
A memory that Democrats would rather forget. While the whole world had its eyes glued to the CNN set for the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the current President of the United States increased his blunders for an hour and a half. Despite the Republican’s lying remarks and the Democrat’s offensive tone, viewers only remembered Joe Biden’s barely audible voice, his countless stammers and his worrying state of health. A performance deemed disastrous by the American media. Several political figures, such as Barack Obama’s former adviser, Van Jones, have even called for a change of candidate, fearing that the polls would turn in favor of the Republican.
July 13, 2024: Donald Trump victim of an assassination attempt
The images made the rounds on social networks. The Republican candidate, point in the air and bloody cheek before being evacuated by the Secret Service [l’unité d’élite chargée de la protection des hautes personnalités politiques, NDLR]. It was Saturday July 13 when Donald Trump came under gunfire in the middle of a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The billionaire is injured in the ear but miraculously escapes. However, one spectator was killed and two others were seriously injured in the audience. The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, a young 20-year-old American, was shot dead shortly after opening fire from the roof of a building outside the perimeter of the meeting.
Same fear for the Republican on September 15. While he was standing on one of his golf courses in Florida, gunshots were heard “near” him, according to the Secret Service. The shooter, Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old pro-Ukrainian American, was finally spotted before he could carry out the act.
July 21, 2024: Joe Biden announces the withdrawal of his candidacy
“While my intention was to run again, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to step down and focus solely on serving as President until the end of my mandate.” After a failed debate which failed to convince his own camp, Joe Biden announced on the social network .
August 22, 2024: entry into the running of Kamala Harris
And it’s done. Nearly a month after the withdrawal of Joe Biden’s candidacy, his vice-president accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party. “In the name of the people, in the name of all Americans, in the name of my mother, in the name of all those who have had a history that could only be written in the greatest country in the world, I accept your inauguration” , declared Kamala Harris in a speech at the closing of the Democratic convention in Chicago, on August 22, 2024. If her name had been circulating for several weeks, her entry into the running has definitively reshuffled the cards for the rest of the presidential campaign.
September 10, 2024: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris debate for the first and last time
90 decisive minutes. On September 10, the two presidential candidates opposed each other on the set of the American channel CNN to make their demands heard. At the heart of the debate: inflation, foreign policy, the assassination attempt on Donald Trump and abortion. A final subject on which the Democrat went on the attack, gaining the upper hand over her rival. The opportunity for the Democratic camp to take its revenge. “Trump was bad and Harris undoubtedly won. She avenged Biden’s defeat during the first debate in June, which caused him to throw in the towel,” assessed American political scientist Larry Sabato, interviewed by AFP. Dissatisfied with his performance, the Republican refused to participate in a second confrontation, making September 10 the only debate between the two candidates.
October 29, 2024: the Democrat delivers her “final indictment”
End of campaign clap for the Democratic camp. On Tuesday, October 29, Kamala Harris delivered what she herself describes as her “final indictment.” And for this final opportunity to make an impression one week before the election, the vice-president gathered more than 75,000 people in front of the National Mall, at the very place where Donald Trump had harangued his supporters before they attack the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
With the White House in the background, the candidate concluded with these words: “Let’s fight for this beautiful country, and in seven days, we will have the power. Each of you has the power to turn the page and “write the next chapter of the most extraordinary story ever told.” A story that the Democrat could see being written in the coming hours.