Elections With Incumbents: The Election of 2020
The final election discussed in this series is the 2020 Presidential Election when Donald Trump ran for a second consecutive term in office. He was defeated in his bid for re-election, but claimed that the election had been stolen from him as the result of massive voter fraud. Although this allegation has failed to be proven in a great number of challenges in court, President Trump continues to assert this to be the case.
The 2020 presidential election was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The utimate victors were the Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Harris, who defeated the incumbent Republican president, Donald Trump, and vice president, Mike Pence. The election was unique in many ways. It took place while the global COVID-19 pandemic was occurring as well as its related recession. The election saw the highest voter turnout by percentage since 1900, with each of the two main tickets receiving more than 74 million votes, surpassing Barack Obama's record of 69.5 million votes from 2008. Biden received more than 81 million votes, the most votes ever cast for a candidate in a U.S. presidential election.
The Democratic party held a series of competitive primaries that featured the most candidates for any political party in the modern era of American politics. Biden won the Democratic presidential nomination, with his closest rival being Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who sits in the Senate as an independent. Biden's running mate Kamala Harris became the first African-American, first Asian-American, and the third female vice presidential nominee on a major party ticket.
For the Republicans, President Trump won his party's re-nomination, getting a total of 2,549 delegates, one of the most in presidential primary history. Runner-up Bill Weld, former Governor of Massachusetts, won only one delegate in the Republican primaries.
The central issues of the election were public health and economic impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign also occurred during a time of civil unrest in reaction to the murder of George Floyd, a black man, who was killed during an arrest by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Another campaign issue was the composition of the US Supreme Court following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the subsequent confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett. Another election issue was the future of the Affordable Care Act.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, a record number of ballots were cast early by mail. Many more registered Democrats voted by mail than registered Republicans. As a result of the large number of mail-in ballots, some swing states saw delays in vote counting and reporting. This caused the major news outlets to delay their projection of Biden and Harris as the president-elect and vice president-elect until the morning of November 7, three and a half days after the election.
Biden ultimately received the majority in the Electoral College with 306 electoral votes. Trump received 232. Biden's victory was attributable to his wins in the so-called "Rust Belt" states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, states which Trump had carried in 2016. The combined 46 electoral votes from these states were enough to swing the election to Biden. Biden also became the first Democrat to win a presidential election in Georgia since 1992, and in Arizona since 1996.
Leading up and following Election Day, President Trump and numerous other Republicans engaged in an aggressive attempt to call into question the election results and to overturn the results. It was alleged, without supporting evidence, that widespread voter fraud had occurred. Efforts were made to influence the vote-counting process in swing states. Attorney General William Barr and officials in each of the 50 states found no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities in the election. Federal agencies overseeing election security called the election the most secure in American history.
The Trump campaign and some of its supporters, including some Republican members of Congress, continued to engage in efforts to overturn the results of the election by filing numerous lawsuits in several states. Most of these were withdrawn or dismissed. Conspiracy theories alleging fraud were spread and Republican state election officials were pressured to distort the results of voting, the most notable example of this being Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was pressured by President Trumo in a phone call that later became widely publicized. Objections were made to the Electoral College certification in Congress, and many in the Trump administration refused to cooperate with the presidential transition.
President Trump vowed that he would never concede the election. He exhorted his followers to "fight like hell." This led to many of his supporters convening in Washington DC on January 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters attacked the United States Capitol. Two Capitol Police Officers were killed in the riot and others were assaulted and badly injured. In spite of this, on January 6, 2021, a the joint session of Congress ultimately voted to certify the Electoral College count.
President Biden and Vice-President Harris were inaugurated on January 20, 2021. President Trump was indicted on August 1, 2023, on four counts relating to conspiring to overturn the results. In spite of this, he is seeking his party's nomination as their Presidential Candidate in the 2024 election and thus far he leads both in the polls and in the delegate count.
The 2020 presidential election was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The utimate victors were the Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Harris, who defeated the incumbent Republican president, Donald Trump, and vice president, Mike Pence. The election was unique in many ways. It took place while the global COVID-19 pandemic was occurring as well as its related recession. The election saw the highest voter turnout by percentage since 1900, with each of the two main tickets receiving more than 74 million votes, surpassing Barack Obama's record of 69.5 million votes from 2008. Biden received more than 81 million votes, the most votes ever cast for a candidate in a U.S. presidential election.
The Democratic party held a series of competitive primaries that featured the most candidates for any political party in the modern era of American politics. Biden won the Democratic presidential nomination, with his closest rival being Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who sits in the Senate as an independent. Biden's running mate Kamala Harris became the first African-American, first Asian-American, and the third female vice presidential nominee on a major party ticket.
For the Republicans, President Trump won his party's re-nomination, getting a total of 2,549 delegates, one of the most in presidential primary history. Runner-up Bill Weld, former Governor of Massachusetts, won only one delegate in the Republican primaries.
The central issues of the election were public health and economic impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign also occurred during a time of civil unrest in reaction to the murder of George Floyd, a black man, who was killed during an arrest by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Another campaign issue was the composition of the US Supreme Court following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the subsequent confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett. Another election issue was the future of the Affordable Care Act.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, a record number of ballots were cast early by mail. Many more registered Democrats voted by mail than registered Republicans. As a result of the large number of mail-in ballots, some swing states saw delays in vote counting and reporting. This caused the major news outlets to delay their projection of Biden and Harris as the president-elect and vice president-elect until the morning of November 7, three and a half days after the election.
Biden ultimately received the majority in the Electoral College with 306 electoral votes. Trump received 232. Biden's victory was attributable to his wins in the so-called "Rust Belt" states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, states which Trump had carried in 2016. The combined 46 electoral votes from these states were enough to swing the election to Biden. Biden also became the first Democrat to win a presidential election in Georgia since 1992, and in Arizona since 1996.
Leading up and following Election Day, President Trump and numerous other Republicans engaged in an aggressive attempt to call into question the election results and to overturn the results. It was alleged, without supporting evidence, that widespread voter fraud had occurred. Efforts were made to influence the vote-counting process in swing states. Attorney General William Barr and officials in each of the 50 states found no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities in the election. Federal agencies overseeing election security called the election the most secure in American history.
The Trump campaign and some of its supporters, including some Republican members of Congress, continued to engage in efforts to overturn the results of the election by filing numerous lawsuits in several states. Most of these were withdrawn or dismissed. Conspiracy theories alleging fraud were spread and Republican state election officials were pressured to distort the results of voting, the most notable example of this being Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was pressured by President Trumo in a phone call that later became widely publicized. Objections were made to the Electoral College certification in Congress, and many in the Trump administration refused to cooperate with the presidential transition.
President Trump vowed that he would never concede the election. He exhorted his followers to "fight like hell." This led to many of his supporters convening in Washington DC on January 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters attacked the United States Capitol. Two Capitol Police Officers were killed in the riot and others were assaulted and badly injured. In spite of this, on January 6, 2021, a the joint session of Congress ultimately voted to certify the Electoral College count.
President Biden and Vice-President Harris were inaugurated on January 20, 2021. President Trump was indicted on August 1, 2023, on four counts relating to conspiring to overturn the results. In spite of this, he is seeking his party's nomination as their Presidential Candidate in the 2024 election and thus far he leads both in the polls and in the delegate count.