The most controversial election race of 2024: How did Trump sideline the Democrats?
The US presidential election, held on November 5, 2024, was one of the most controversial elections in the country’s history, and its news was always at the forefront of the world’s media.
During this period, the then Democratic President Joe Biden withdrew from the election race due to his poor performance in the debate with Donald Trump and internal pressures from his own party. This decision by Biden caused his vice president, Kamala Harris, to be the main candidate of the Democratic Party against Trump.
As Harris entered the race, polls showed that she and Trump were almost on the same level nationally. Some polls even showed that Trump was leading by a small margin. Finally, the midterm elections were held in November, and Trump managed to defeat the Democratic candidate by a huge margin and be elected President of the United States. Trump took office on January 20, 2025, with the inauguration ceremony, taking over the reins of the country for the next four years.
Election results and changes in the composition of the Democratic and Republican parties in Congress
After the vote was counted, it was determined that Trump had won by a very large margin, winning 312 electoral votes compared to Harris’s 226 electoral votes. Also, in the popular vote, Trump won about 74.6 million votes (50.5 percent) and Harris about 70.9 million votes (48 percent).
However, although Trump won by a significant margin in the electoral votes overall, in some crucial and key states, such as Pennsylvania, the margin of votes was very small, indicating a close competition in these areas.
Also, during this election, which coincided with the midterm elections for Congress, the Republican Party was able to win a majority of seats in the House of Representatives. According to the results, Republicans took control of the House of Representatives with 218 seats, while Democrats won 208 seats.
Following these results, Republican Representative Mike Johnson from Louisiana was elected Speaker of the House in October 2023 and was re-elected in January 2025. It should be noted that the United States House of Representatives has 435 seats, and a majority of 218 seats is required to win a majority.