The United States is set to experience one of its most closely contested presidential elections. As voting draws to a close today, former President Donald Trump of the Republican Party and Vice President Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party are in a fiercely competitive race, with both candidates neck-and-neck.
As of the time of this report, more than 75 million people have already cast their votes, either in person or by mail, according to NBC’s tracking data.
On the final day of campaigning, both Trump and Harris were reported to be running in a dead heat, not only nationally but also in key swing states. This has raised concerns among supporters from both parties, as the election outcome remains uncertain.
At present, it is unclear whether Trump, the 45th president, will be able to return to office as the 47th president, or whether Harris, the 49th Vice-President, will make history as the 47th president of the United States.
Harris, who announced her candidacy for the presidency on 21 July 2024—104 days ago—has mounted a strong campaign despite her opponent starting his bid a year earlier. While Trump has been the dominant figure in Republican politics for years, Harris has successfully maintained a competitive race.
If victorious, Harris will become the first female president in US history, four years after making history as the country’s first female, first Black, and first South Asian Vice President. Prior to her current role, Harris served as California’s Senator from January 2017 to January 2021, making history again as the first South Asian woman and the second Black woman to serve in the Senate. She was also the District Attorney of San Francisco and California’s Attorney-General before joining Joe Biden’s 2020 ticket as Vice President. After Biden withdrew from the 2024 race, he endorsed her candidacy, allowing her to secure the Democratic nomination in August 2024.
Other women have run for vice president in the past, including Marrelta Show (1884), Charlotta Spears Boss (1952), and Sarah Palin (2008), but none have succeeded in reaching the presidency. With Harris, however, the US faces its best chance yet of electing a female president.
The question now is whether Harris will succeed where others, such as Hillary Clinton, failed. Clinton, the first woman to secure a major party’s presidential nomination in 2016, won the popular vote by nearly three million ballots but lost in the Electoral College to Trump.
Eight years later, Harris is now in a similar position, needing 270 of the 538 Electoral College votes to secure victory. Will she achieve this? Or will Trump manage to return to the White House after losing his re-election bid in 2020?
The political atmosphere remains tense, with Trump’s camp alleging that early voting is being rigged. This has sparked concerns that the events of January 6, 2021, when a mob attacked the US Capitol, could repeat themselves. Time will tell whether this becomes a significant issue in the final days of the election.
Voters face a difficult decision with several major issues dominating the race. The election comes just two months after the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and voters are grappling with ongoing global conflicts, such as the war between Israel and Hamas and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Trump’s comments about the Israel-Hamas situation have stirred controversy, particularly when he claimed in a debate on 10 September 2024 that, under Harris’s leadership, “Israel will not exist within two years from now.”
On the other hand, Harris has accused Trump of sowing division in the country, particularly in his rhetoric on immigration. During a debate, Trump claimed that “millions of people” were entering the US from jails, prisons, and mental institutions, blaming immigrants for taking jobs from African Americans, Hispanics, and unions. This stance has prompted some African American voters to rally behind Harris, as she positions herself as the candidate capable of uniting the country.
As the polls close and results begin to emerge, all eyes will be on the final tally to see whether Harris’s candidacy represents a historic breakthrough for women in American politics or whether Trump will extend his hold on power for another four years.
