Who is running for president in 2024? No, it's not just Biden and Trump.
The 2024 election cycle has kicked off, and the race is heating up even as Election Day is months away.
President Joe Biden is seeking another term in the White House, and with former President Donald Trump's hat also in the ring, a 2020 rematch is a real possibility. Democrats are expected to fall firmly behind Biden, and Trump has held a stubborn lead in polls on the Republican side despite several high-profile candidates aiming to unseat him.
Here are the latest developments on the path to the 2024 election:
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DEMOCRATS
Biden remains a strong frontrunner for his party's nomination. Several lesser-known Democratic candidates are mounting challenges to the president, but they have yet to gain much traction.
Joe Biden
Background: First elected in 1972, Biden served as a senator from Delaware for 36 years before being elected vice president in 2008, mounting a victory alongside former President Barack Obama. After serving two terms as vice president, he took a brief hiatus from government work before returning to run, and win, in 2020.
Views: Biden's campaign is focused on the "battle for the soul of America," doubling down on the central message of his campaign four years ago. He said the question facing the nation is "whether, in the years ahead, we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer."
Dean Phillips
Background: Phillips represents Minnesota in the House of Representatives and was first elected to Congress in 2018. Before entering politics, Phillips made his name as a businessman, heading up Phillips Distilling and serving as chair of Talenti Gelato.
His views: Phillips is a moderate with a reputation in Washington for reaching across the aisle. A member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, one of his major legislative accomplishments was the creation of the Paycheck Protection Program, which he co-authored with Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy. The program provided loans to businesses to help them during the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Marianne Williamson
Background: Williamson is a self-help author and spiritual leader who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2020.
Her views: Williamson supports abortion rights, a single-payer health care system and reparations for descendants of formerly enslaved Americans. She has suggested creating a U.S. Department of Children and Youth to increase child advocacy and a U.S. Department of Peace.
REPUBLICANS
Since his win in 2016, Trump has served as de facto leader of the Republican Party, his influence still looming large in Washington. However, after Trump-endorsed candidates suffered in the 2022 midterms, and amid growing legal peril and concerns around his age as well, speculation swirled that there was an opening for a new leader to rise. Many of the high-profile candidates like Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis who aimed to unseat him have dropped out, however, paving the way for Trump to clinch the nomination.
Ryan Binkley
Background: Binkley is CEO, president, and co-founder of the mergers and acquisitions conglomerate Generational Group. He is also a faith leader, co-founding and serving as the pastor at Create Church in Richardson, Texas.
His views: Binkley has said he hopes to prioritize balancing the budget, lowering health care costs, creating bipartisan immigration reform and putting more community emphasis on education. Binkley is against abortion rights. His campaign website says he was "thankful" when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, but that a "culture of life" means prioritizing adoption as well.
Donald Trump
Background: Prior to 2016, Trump dabbled in politics, often sounding off on issues like the birther movement meant to cast doubt on former President Barack Obama's citizenship and the case surrounding the now-exonerated Central Park Five. However, he was still primarily known for real estate and his forays into reality television, famously starring in "The Apprentice."
In 2016, Trump won the White House, serving a full four-year term before being defeated by Biden in his reelection bid.
His views: The former president has, without evidence, centered much of his campaign on the claim that his political enemies are fueling his ongoing criminal cases. He has said he would consider pardoning participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, which his critics say was inspired by his false claims of election fraud.
THIRD-PARTY CANDIDATES
The potential of a tight Trump-Biden rematch opens the door for a third-party candidate to be integral in determining the results of the race. A third name on the presidential ballot could drain votes from either of the two major party nominees, tipping the scales toward either Biden or Trump.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Background: Kennedy is an environmental lawyer known for trumpeting a debunked theory that vaccines can be linked to autism. In 2017, Trump invited Kennedy to head up a presidential commission on vaccine safety.
His views: He is campaigning on a platform of fighting for the "liberties guaranteed by the Constitution," according to his campaign website. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennedy opposed vaccine mandates, calling them an infringement on individual liberty and at times used the Holocaust as a historical comparison.
Cornel West
Background: West is an American academic and philosopher known for his progressive ideals. He has taught at several Ivy League institutions and works now as a professor of philosophy at Union Theological Seminary.
His views: West is a proponent of establishing Medicare for All, and barring oil and gas subsidies, as well as drilling on public lands. Long a vocal opponent of militarism, West's campaign website lists "end the wars" as a key priority, which would include disbanding NATO and banning nuclear weapons across the globe.
Jill Stein
Background: Stein is a doctor and organizer who has championed causes like campaign finance reform and environmental protection. She has run for president twice before, launching bids in 2012 and 2016.
Her views: Stein paints herself as an outsider, coming in to disrupt a political system ruled by money and special interests. In her campaign launch video, posted to X, she called for an economic bill of rights including "the right to a job, to health care, to housing, to food, education and more.
Candidates who dropped out
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who is running for president? Meet the 2024 presidential candidates
