An unsettled and unpredictable 2024 presidential race is entering its final stretch, with Vice President Kamala Harris looking to build on the momentum of this week’s Democratic National Convention and former President Donald Trump honing his lines of attack.
The former president’s early-summer polling and fundraising advantages were wiped out in an unprecedented five weeks that saw Trump survive an assassination attempt, President Joe Biden drop his reelection bid and Harris ascend to the top of the Democratic ticket and inject new enthusiasm into the party. Now Democrats are on offense, eyeing an expanded battleground map that could include new paths through the Sun Belt to 270 electoral college votes.
Trump reclaimed the spotlight on Friday as he campaigned in Arizona alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The independent candidate had suspended his presidential campaign hours earlier and said he was pulling his name from the ballot in key swing states to avoid being a spoiler.
“Don’t you want a president who’s going to get us out of the wars and who’s going to rebuild the middle class in this country?” Kennedy said of Trump in Glendale.
Kennedy’s departure from the fringes completes the reset of the 2024 race as a two-person contest between Trump and Harris, eliminating one wild card.
With the conventions over, the next race-defining moment on the calendar is their September 10 debate hosted by ABC. The campaigns have also both discussed participating in a second debate, but the details of where, when and who would host have not yet been settled.
