The 2024 Election was an election like no other. Harris’ entry in Late July changed the perspective and layout of the most consequential election. Harris and Trump were headed to the Election and with polls calling a tight race between the two candidates, the outcome could have shifted either direction.
This uncertainty followed up to Election Day. People began voting very early on the morning of November 5th, and it was reported that over 70 million Americans had cast their ballot early before Election Day. President Biden voted early in Delaware where he stood in line for about 45 minutes. Tim Walz, then Vice-Presidential Candidate, voted early with his family in St. Paul and commented about the election to reporters: “This election is a chance to turn the page on the chaos of Donald Trump, and a new way forward.”
On the day of the Election, Americans were watching their televisions on stand-by on who would become the next president. Aside from the presidential election, Americans were looking at their local elections, including the North Carolina Gubernatorial Race and LA District Attorney Race, just to name a few.
Trump began to lead Kamala Harris by 23 electoral votes in Harris’ 3 votes. Trump continued to gain momentum in the states as the hours went by. Kamala Harris began to follow although her margin of victory began to diminish. The next day, November 6th, Fox News was the first major network to declare Donald Trump as President-Elect and the 47th President of the United States. At about 12:54 pm ET on Wednesday, November 6th, AP News called the race in Michigan to favor Donald Trump and performed better in counties such as Detroit. Remember, this state, known as the Blue Wall, along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, were states Trump won back in 2016 and lost in 2020, against Joe Biden. What states brought Trump to win in a historic comeback to the White House? All 7 of the battleground states.
From the start of this election cycle, it was evident that the eyes of Americans were centered on 7 key states that would decide who won the election. These states included Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina. The polls gathered weeks before Election Day hinted at a tossup election that could’ve gone either way.
As the votes continued to rollout, Democrats underperformed their expectations, again polls indicated this election was a tight race. More voters were swung to vote for Donald Trump, in terms of the Economy. One of the polls reported by the website 538 to win had Harris with 48% and Donald Trump with 46.8%, a lead of just about 1.2%. In other polls, both candidates were tied which made this race difficult to predict. Polls conducted by ABC News had Harris at a 3-point lead. Independent pollings had Trump ahead with either 1 or 2 points. The polls were updated day after day since late July.
Yet, this election was far from close and a reminiscence of the 2016 election. Mainstream media and voters were confident Hilary Clinton would have won the election and easily beat Donald Trump. To everyone’s surprise, Donald Trump managed to pull states that favored Democrats in the last few elections. However, Donald Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 and 2020 although he managed to secure the 270 votes needed to win in this election. In the end, Donald Trump earned a total of 312 electoral votes against Harris’ 226 electoral votes. This was a victory for Republicans as this was the first time since George W. Bush, a Republican candidate, won both the popular vote and the electoral college.
Looking over at the North Carolina Gubernatorial Election, voters elected Josh Stein as their next Governor, with 53.8% against Mark Robinson’s percentage of 40.2%. In the weeks leading up to the election, Mark Robinson found himself in a controversy surrounding his comments. The controversy was related to what Robinson had said on a particular website, and expressed other offensive topics that will not be commented on in this article. However, Mark Robinson denied that he made the comments on a website, although in the days after CNN published their article regarding Robinson’s comments, his campaign staffers resigned, ultimately impacting his run to become Governor. NBC did a recap on Election Day, stating that Josh Stein was the clear favorite to succeed Roy Cooper, who was limited to serve another term as Governor of North Carolina. Once the race was called, Mark Robinson would concede the race: “It’s not about the lies. It’s not about the half-truths;” “It’s about the people who believe in you. I stand here strong and proud — glad to have run a race that was upright and decent,”
The 2024 United States Election also included the Senate and the House Race. The Republican Party won the majority of the Senate with 47 votes for the Democratic party and 53 for the Republicans. Adam Schiff is the California senator-elect. The Democratic Party lost the majority of the House of Representatives, with 212 seats being Democrats and 218 being Republicans. Since the Republicans won the House and Senate, they are controlling the U.S. Congress. All three branches of government are majority Republican.
President-elect Donald Trump started to select people to his cabinet. His pick for Secretary of State is Marco Rubio, a United States senator from Flordia; the Secretary of State is the head of the State Department and responsible for foreign affairs. His pick for attorney general is Matt Gaetz, a former United States United States representative; the attorney general represents the United States in legal matters and gives advice and opinions to the president. His pick for CIA director is John Ratcliffe, Former Director of the National Intelligence of the United States; the CIA is a foreign intelligence agency and maintains national security. His pick for United States Secretary of Health and Human Services is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of Robert F Kennedy who was once attorney general under his brother John F. Kennedy, presidency and is also a politician; HSS Secretary prepares for public health and medical emergencies. Trump is proposing a new government department, the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. CBS News has the whole list of people selected for positions under Trump: CBS.
Of the picks Donald Trump has selected, Matt Gaetz stood out. Mr. Gaetz has served as U.S. representative for Florida’s 1st District since 2017. Once he was nominated for Attorney General by President-Elect Donald Trump, Gaetz resigned from his position awaiting approval from Congress. However, recently, allegations have been made toward Matt Gaetz about misconduct and he was facing an investigation by the DOJ. If Matt Gaetz were to be approved as Attorney General by the Senate, Gaetz would oversee the Justice Department and likely make changes to the Department. Yet, ultimately, the Department must comply with federal laws; if the evidence is present, the notion is to listen and face the consequences; a trial is required. As a result of these accusations, on November 21st, Matt Gaetz withdrew himself as consideration for Attorney General. The very same day, Donald Trump nominated Pam Bondi as Attorney General.
On the contrary, Pete Hegseth has been criticized; critics pointed out his lack of prior knowledge to run the Department of Defense. Pete Hegseth is an Army veteran and a Fox News Anchor. As previously mentioned, Hegseth was nominated by President-Elect Trump to serve as Secretary of Defense.
Returning to the pollings, why were the polls that had Harris winning the Election inaccurate? Donald Trump earned roughly 50% of the national votes, performing better than Harris (48%). As reported by NPR, across all 7 swing states, Donald Trump outperformed his numbers in the polls by a few points. Polls had Harris leading swing states such as North Carolina and Michigan by a margin of 2-3 points. In NPR’s article, it reiterated polls tend to underestimate Trump’s performance because of his rhetoric and views toward the media; so as a result, fewer people will participate in such surveys simply because they don’t trust the media outlet hosting it. NPR’s article also looked into how demographics changed over time and a few other discussions for you to read.
Now, a question that continues to float is what could have been expected from a Harris Administration. What policies did Harris advocate for during her 100-day campaign, since the moment President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race? Here is a deep dive into what a Harris Administration could have looked like, including her policies, given she had won the 2024 Election.
Housing Costs
Then Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris had planned to introduce a tax credit to address affordable housing as a series of Opportunity Economy plans. This tax credit could have assisted developers and companies in covering upfront costs in the construction of affordable housing; the Harris Campaign claimed this would have added 1.2 million affordable rental homes to the market. A second tax credit would have focused on homes that have previously been rented out. This credit would have provided money to keep homes affordable and could have helped families facing a crisis. All this was built with a $40 Billion fund to finance and design homes. Additionally, Harris had stated she intended to combat corporate homeowners and provide federal funds to pay the down payments of first-time home buyers.
Women’s Reproductive Rights
During her campaign, Kamala Harris took a firm stance in support of Women’s Reproductive Rights. Harris criticized the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe vs Wade back in 2022. Remember, Roe vs. Wade protected abortion at a federal level so when this case was overturned, it put this mandate over to the states to decide the issue of abortion. Harris had pledged to support codifying Roe vs Wade, meaning a federal law protecting the right to abortion. Harris supported protecting access to IVF, a treatment couples can rely on in attempting to conceive children. We definitely could have expected Kamala Harris to carry the duties of the Biden Administration’s work and continue expanding access to medication abortion through mail and at stores. This issue will continue to be contentious and likely affect how the Trump Administration will manage this issue.
Foreign Policy
When it comes down to communicating with countries abroad, it can be complicated to dissect and fully understand what Harris could have pursued. Using the article from the Council of Foreign Relations, Kamala Harris supported the push toward artificial intelligence, commenting on the role the Biden Administration had with the CHIPS and Science Act passed back in 2022, which proportioned $280 billion for funding in “production of advanced technologies and the hardware that underpins their development.” The Biden Administration did ask Congress to pass legislation, in an attempt to strengthen antitrust used toward large technology firms. Aside from her campaign, Kamala Harris had a firm stance toward China, claiming that their growing influence has led to a national security threat to the US. One of her comments made as Vice President was that America will win the competition “for the twenty-first century.” High-tech products from China were given strict restrictions due to the threat to national security, as worded by the Biden Administration. The European Union watches closely as to what actions the United States takes toward China and imposes similar measures. From this information and more, it’s likely that Kamala Harris would have followed through with this agenda. This agenda seemed promising and was a strong reaction to the arguments made about the growth of China. Harris was firm to keep unity with China, and other countries. Aside from this, Harris was a believer in shaping artificial intelligence and providing more funds to such programs, thus expanding its use. The Council of Foreign Relations detailed other critical issues Harris campaigned on and likely would have exercised in a hypothetical presidency.
Immigration
Kamala Harris had strongly argued for enforcing the US Immigration Law but also creating a legal pathway for migrants and allowing them to become a U.S. citizen. This issue was on the minds of many voters. Voters were worried because of how many migrants were coming into the country in recent years after Joe Biden assumed the presidency. During the Biden Administration, a bipartisan bill was in the works, which would have strengthened security at the border, and increased funding for agents. However, this bill failed to pass; although, Harris would likely have addressed the need to come together and the crisis at the Southern border. In an article by Docketwise, it stated Harris’s stance on immigration would have been tougher than that of Joe Biden. The border security bill would have been a key component for Harris, as this bill could have allowed “more advanced technology to monitor the border.” Aside from all these regulations, Kamala Harris would have taken a humanitarian approach as well, by expanding protections to dreamers and creating more jobs for workers to earn their visas, thus increasing the number of applicants and reducing the shortage of staff.
Economy
While it’s difficult to hypothesize what a Harris administration could have been, we know she likely would have carried Biden’s economic policies. Newsnation compared the policies of Harris and Trump, by providing insight into how Harris could have handled Inflation had she won. Here is a quick summary: Harris promised a tax increase for the wealthy. She commented that inflation was her top priority if elected: “The President and our administration’s probably highest priority is bringing down the price of gas and cost of living,” Kamala Harris promised an economy with an emphasis on the middle class, “which included tax relief for more than 100 million middle-class and lower-income families.” Harris criticized Trump’s plan to eliminate taxes would directly affect the middle class. Newsnation also stated that “Harris had called for an expanded child tax credit that would be worth up to $6,000 in total tax relief for families with newborn children.”
By looking over this brief overview, we can tell Kamala Harris had plans and ideas in place to ensure she ran her administration effectively. This is not to say she wouldn’t have faced backlash from the public. Republicans would have given her a tough time when it came to discussing foreign aid to countries or economic policies. However, both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump had the interests of the people in mind and in the end, Trump won in a historic comeback to the White House. Thus, Donald Trump is now the 2nd US President to win a non-consecutive term, after breaking the record held by Grover Cleveland, the first to win a non-consecutive term back in 1892.
