Who’s Running for President in 2024?
Dropped out
Not running
There was no shortage of people running for president when the campaign began, all laboring under the shadow of the same two men who faced off in 2020: President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump.
Jason Palmer — who collected a handful of delegates in American Samoa — effectively ended his campaign on April 15 by endorsing President Biden, but said he wasn’t formally ending it because he was trying to negotiate a role at the Democratic convention.
But most of Mr. Trump’s Republican challengers ended their campaigns before a single vote was cast, and he quickly drove out the rest by winning all but two contests.
On the Democratic side, Mr. Biden has some nominal challengers but is similarly dominating the field.
Number of candidates in the race over time
Nearly all challengers to Mr. Trump dropped out before Super Tuesday. Below, lighter lines show data from past election cycles starting in 1972.
Democrats
Republicans
Source: New York Times reporting and Ballotpedia
Note: Marianne Williamson suspended her campaign for the Democratic nomination on Feb. 7, 2024, but resumed her bid for office three weeks later.
More about the candidates
Democrats
Joseph R. Biden Jr.
- Current president
- 82 years old on Inauguration Day
President Biden has cast himself as a protector of democracy and a stabilizing force after the upheaval of the Trump administration.
Marianne Williamson
- Self-help author
- 72 years old on Inauguration Day
Marianne Williamson, a self-help author and former spiritual adviser to Oprah Winfrey, is running for a second time.
Jason Palmer
- Entrepreneur
- 53 years old on Inauguration Day
Jason Palmer, a little-known businessman who has worked for organizations including Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, tied President Biden in American Samoa, earning three of the small island territory’s six delegates and 11 more votes than the president.
Republicans Read more: Candidates on the issues ›
Donald J. Trump
- Former president and businessman
- 78 years old on Inauguration Day
Former President Donald J. Trump is running to retake the office he lost in 2020, then denied losing to the point of inciting a mob of his supporters to attack the United States Capitol.
Independent and third-party
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- Anti-vaccine activist
- 71 years old on Inauguration Day
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, is a prominent anti-vaccine activist. He initially ran for the Democratic nomination before announcing in October that he would run as an independent instead.
Cornel West
- Professor and progressive activist
- 72 years old on Inauguration Day
Cornel West has taught at Yale, Princeton and Harvard and is currently a professor of philosophy at Union Theological Seminary. He is known for his progressive activism, including his sharp criticism of former President Barack Obama.
Jill Stein
- Doctor and activist
- 74 years old on Inauguration Day
Jill Stein, a physician who ran for president on the Green Party ticket in 2012 and 2016, is seeking the party’s nomination for a third time. In a video announcing her campaign, she called for an “economic bill of rights” that would include a guaranteed right to employment, health care, housing, food and education, and also highlighted support for combating climate change and protecting abortion and transgender rights.