The general election in November is an indirect election, in which voters cast ballots for a slate of members of the Electoral College; these electors then directly elect the president and vice president. Election offices are dealing with increased workloads and public scrutiny. Officials in many states have sought additional funding to hire more personnel, improve security, and extend training. Numerous election offices are dealing with an increase in retirements and are overwhelmed with public records requests, owing in part to the electoral mistrust planted by former President Trump's loss in the 2020 election.

Trump is the first president in American history to be impeached twice, and the first to run again after impeachment. As Trump was acquitted by the Senate in both cases, he was not barred from seeking reelection to the presidency in 2024.

This is the first presidential election to occur after the reapportionment of votes in the Electoral College following the 2020 United States census and redistricting cycle.

The seven swing states in the 2024 election were the Rust Belt states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, as well as the Sun Belt states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina. Trump secured victory in all seven states. The three Midwestern swing states had historically been part of the "blue wall" ever since Bill Clinton's win in 1992, but broke for Trump in 2016, when he had previously faced a female Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton.
Several state courts and officials, including the Colorado Supreme Court, a state Circuit Court in Illinois, and the Secretary of State of Maine, ruled that Trump was ineligible to hold office under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution for his role in the January 6 Capitol attack, and thus attempted to disqualify him from appearing on the ballot. These attempts were unsuccessful, and on March 4, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Trump v. Anderson that states cannot determine eligibility for a national election under Section 3, and only Congress has the authority to disqualify candidates, or to pass legislation that allows courts to do so.
Trump made false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, and continued denying the election results. Election security experts warned that officials who deny the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election may attempt to impede the voting process, or refuse to certify the 2024 results. In July 2024, The New York Times reported that "the Republican Party and its conservative allies are engaged in an unprecedented legal campaign targeting the American voting system", by restricting voting for partisan advantage ahead of Election Day and prep…

Read more on Wikipedia

Harris framed her campaign as "a choice between freedom and chaos" and based it around the ideals of "freedom" and "the future". The Harris campaign sought to highlight her experience as an attorney general and a prosecutor to "prosecute the case" against Trump by pointing out his 34 felony convictions and the impacts of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Harris ran as a moderate Democrat who moved towards the center on several policy positions since her 2019 primary run, embracing many of Biden's domestic policy stances. Harris focused her economic proposals on the cost of groceries, housing and healthcare. She also focused on the middle class, and small businesses.
A central campaign theme for Trump's second presidential bid was "retribution". Trump framed the 2024 election as "the final battle", and openly promised to leverage the power of the presidency for political reprisals. Trump heavily ran on immigration as a central campaign focus. Trump's campaign focused on dark and apocalyptic rhetoric about the state of the country and predicting doom if he did not win. The Associated Press stated that "Trump's rallies take on the symbols, rhetoric and agenda of Christian nationalism." During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump made numerous false and misleading statements. The large number of lies and false statements have been attributed to Trump's rhetorical style described as using the "big lie" and firehose of falsehood propaganda technique. Trump also made many personal attacks against Harris, several of which were sexual in nature, were characterized as racist and misogynistic, and were considered a further breach of political norms. Trump's harsher rhetoric against his political enemies has been described by historians, scholars, commentators and former generals as populist, authoritarian, fascist, and unlike anything a political candidate has ever said in American history.
Abortion access was a key topic during the campaign; it was on the ballot in up to ten states in 2024, including the swing states of Arizona and Nevada. Some pundits argued abortion-rights referenda could help Harris in November. Democrats predominantly advocate for abortion access as a right, while Republicans generally favor significantly restricting the legality of abortion. Since becoming the presumptive nominee, Harris indicated her support for passing legislation which would restore the federal abortion right protections previously guaranteed by Roe. She argued Trump would let his anti-abortion allies implement Project 2025 proposals to restrict abortion and contraception throughout the United States.

Trump claimed credit for overturning Roe but criticized Republicans pushing for total abortion bans. Trump said he would leave the issue of abortion for the states to decide but would allow red states to monitor women's pregnancies and prosecute them if they have an abortion. In his home state of …

Read more on Wikipedia

A number of independent candidates announced presidential runs, most notably Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West. Several third parties, including the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Constitution Party, and the American Solidarity Party also announced presidential nominees. Kennedy dropped out of the race in August 2024, although he remained on the ballot in many states. The No Labels organization abandoned its efforts to run a centrist candidate in April 2024.
Chase Oliver was chosen by the Libertarian Party as its presidential nominee on May 26, 2024, at the 2024 Libertarian National Convention. Oliver was the party's nominee in the 2022 United States Senate election in Georgia. Oliver achieved ballot access in 47 states, and was eligible to receive write-in votes in the District of Columbia, Illinois, New York, and Tennessee.
The party's nominee in 2012 and 2016, Stein is a physician and a former member of the Lexington Town Meeting. On August 16, Stein selected academic Butch Ware as her running mate. Stein achieved ballot access in 38 states, and was eligible to receive write-in votes in seven states. She was not eligible to receive write-in votes in the remaining states or the District of Columbia.
These third-party candidates had ballot access in some states, but not enough to get 270 votes needed to win the presidency, without running a write-in campaign.
• American Solidarity Party: Peter Sonski, Connecticut school board member
• Approval Voting Party: Blake Huber, activist and nominee for president in 2020
• Constitution Party: Randall Terry, anti-abortion activist and perennial candidate
• Independent American Party: Joel Skousen, survivalist and consultant
• Natural Law Party: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., environmental lawyer and author, the party's nominee in addition to his run as an independent before he withdrew from the race ahead of the election but was not removed from ballots
• Prohibition Party: Michael Wood, businessman
• Party for Socialism and Liberation: Claudia De la Cruz, political activist
• Socialist Equality Party: Joseph Kishore, writer and SEP nominee in 2020
• Socialist Workers Party: Rachele Fruit, hotel worker and trade unionist
• Socialist Party USA: Bill Stodden, nonprofit executive
The following notable individual(s) ran independently for president.
• Cornel West, academic, anti-war activist, and public intellectual, previously a People's Party and Green Party primaries candidate, who launched an independent campaign
The following notable individual(s) announced and then suspended their campaigns before the election:
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr., environmental lawyer, author, 2024 Democratic presidential candidate and 2024 independent presidential candidate (endorsed Trump)