Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. The Republican Party's ticket—Donald Trump, who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, and JD Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio—defeated the Democratic Party's ticket—Kamala Harris, the incumbent U.S. vice president, and Tim Walz, the incumbent governor of Minnesota.

The incumbent president, Democrat Joe Biden, initially ran for re-election as the party's presumptive nominee, facing little opposition and easily defeating Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota during the Democratic primaries; however, what was broadly considered a poor debate performance in June 2024 intensified concerns about his age and health, and led to calls within his party for him to leave the race. After initially declining to do so, Biden withdrew on July 21, becoming the first eligible incumbent president to withdraw since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968. Biden endorsed Harris, who was voted the party's nominee by the delegates on August 5 and became the first nominee who did not participate in the primaries since Hubert Humphrey, also in 1968. Harris selected Walz as her running mate.

Trump, who lost the 2020 presidential election to Biden, ran for reelection to a nonconsecutive second term. He was shot in the ear in an assassination attempt on July 13, 2024. Trump was nominated as the Republican Party's presidential candidate during the 2024 Republican National Convention alongside his running mate, Vance. The Trump campaign ticket supported mass deportation of undocumented immigrants; an isolationist "America First" foreign policy agenda with support of Israel in the Gaza war and skepticism of Ukraine in its war with Russia; anti-transgender policies; and tariffs.