With Nikki Haley Out of the Race, Only a Few 2024 Presidential Candidates Remain

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Almost a dozen candidates began the race, but only Donald Trump remains as a Republican challenger for the White House in 2024.

The former president now has a clear path to nomination after Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, suspended her campaign following a rough slate of results on Super Tuesday, when more than a dozen states held primaries or caucuses. Haley only won in Vermont, making it clear the 52-year-old had no viable path to overcoming Trump.

Haley didn’t directly endorse Trump but did express optimism for the presumptive Republican nominee. “I said I wanted Americans to have their voices heard. I have done that. I have no regrets,” Haley told supporters, according to CNN. “It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the vote—those in our party and beyond it, who did not support him. And I hope he does that.”

Haley became the 10^th and final major candidate to drop out of the Republican field since the start of the 2024 race, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

The Democratic race is almost just as clear, with incumbent President Joe Biden well on his way to securing the nomination. However, Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips, who has yet to earn a single delegate, hasn’t yet conceded.

Meanwhile, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is still hoping to play spoiler as an independent candidate.

Here’s a brief primer on all the major 2024 presidential candidates. We will continue to update this article as the election draws closer.

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Republican Presidential Candidates

Donald Trump

Donald Trump, 77, served as the 45^th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Joe Biden defeated him in the 2020 presidential election. The billionaire real estate mogul and former host of The Apprentice reality television series defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

During his time as president, Trump introduced strict immigration policies, including a travel ban for several predominantly Muslim countries; withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement; rescinded the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate; oversaw the country’s initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and appointed Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. He is the first president in history to be impeached twice by the U.S. House of Representatives and is the first former president to face criminal and federal charges.

Read more about Donald Trump

Democratic Presidential Candidates

Joe Biden

Joe Biden, 81, is the current president of the United States, having assumed office after defeating Donald Trump in 2020. He previously served as vice president under Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017. He represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 2009, where he was a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 12 years.

Starting as president amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden oversaw the distribution of vaccines and signed into law the American Rescue Plan stimulus bill to battle economic uncertainty. A little later, record inflation—and the Federal Reserve’s subsequent effort to control it—dominated headlines. He also enacted the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, and completed the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan. Earlier this year, special counsel Robert Hur declined to charge Biden with federal crimes despite “evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.”

Read more about Joe Biden

Dean Phillips

Dean Phillips, 55, represents Minnesota’s Third Congressional District, assuming office in January 2019. He is a successful businessman who is heir to the Phillips Distilling Company. His grandmother was the late Pauline Phillips, who created the popular Dear Abby advice column.

Because of his late entry into the race, Phillips missed the deadline to appear on the February 2024 primary ballot in Nevada. Still, he has insisted for months that Biden shouldn’t seek reelection and has a good chance of losing a rematch with Trump. “I will not sit still and not be quiet in the face of numbers that are so clearly saying that we’re going to be facing an emergency next November,” he said in an interview with CBS News. Fixing the economy, combatting inflation, and solving the border crisis are among his goals should he be elected president.

Independent Presidential Candidate

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—Bobby, to many—is a best-selling author and environmental lawyer who has worked on issues like clean water. The 70-year-old is the son of former New York senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential campaign, and the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy. He is also married to Emmy-nominated actor Cheryl Hines.

Kennedy spent decades working on environmental causes and was president of Waterkeeper Alliance, a nonprofit he co-founded, for more than 20 years. He is an outspoken critic of vaccines, including for COVID-19. He created the anti-vaccine organization Children’s Health Defense and has repeatedly shared discredited claims linking vaccines to autism, according to CNN.

In a March 10, 2023 tweet, Kennedy said the focus of his then-unannounced campaign would be “to end the corrupt merger between state and corporate power that has ruined our economy, shattered the middle class, polluted our landscapes and waters, poisoned our children, and robbed us of our values and freedoms.” Six months after Kennedy made his Democratic bid official, he announced he would run for president as an independent instead.

Read More About Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

No Longer in the Running

Doug Burgum

Ended campaign on December 4, 2023

Doug Burgum, 67, has served as the governor of North Dakota since 2016. His second term is set to expire in December 2024. Before politics, Burgum was a successful businessman. He was the CEO of Great Plains Software, a tech company that Microsoft acquired in 2001. He also founded the Kilbourne Group, a real estate development firm, in 2006.

Having embraced several conservative policies in North Dakota, like a strict six-week abortion ban, Burgum focused heavily on the economy, energy, and national security during his campaign. However, his strategy didn’t resonate with voters—he was polling last on average among the major GOP candidates when he decided to suspend his campaign.

Chris Christie

Ended campaign on January 10, 2024

Chris Christie, 61, was elected governor of New Jersey in 2009 and served through mid-January 2018. He previously ran for president during the 2016 campaign cycle but bowed out of the race and supported Donald Trump. They have since had a falling out, with Christie calling Trump “a child” for refusing to accept his loss in the 2020 election.

The former prosecutor is an alum of the University of Delaware and the Seton Hall University School of Law. As governor, Christie was part of the “Bridgegate” scandal, in which two of his aides were convicted of conspiracy and fraud for participating in a scheme to intentionally cause traffic problems on the George Washington Bridge as political retribution in 2013. He positioned himself as a more moderate candidate in the 2024 presidential race but failed to gain momentum, leading to his departure just before the Iowa caucuses.

Ron DeSantis

Ended campaign on January 21, 2024

Ron DeSantis, 45, is in his second term as the governor of Florida and formerly served the state in the House of Representatives. He graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School and served as a Judge Advocate General officer in the U.S. Navy.

DeSantis garnered national attention for his hands-off approach to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent dismissal of restrictions like school closures and mask mandates, and he has taken an extremely conservative stance on several issues. According to NBC News, he has signed bills banning gender-affirming care for minors, combatting undocumented immigration, banning abortions at six weeks, and prohibiting higher education institutions from spending tax dollars on diversity programs. He has also sparred with Disney, one of his state’s largest employers, over LGBTQ rights.

However, a source from DeSantis’ campaign told The Washington Post he struggled to attract small-dollar donors and suffered from incoherent messaging. After finishing a distant second in the Iowa caucuses and facing dire polling numbers, he ended his campaign ahead of the New Hampshire primary.

Read More about Ron DeSantis

Nikki Haley

Ended campaign on March 6, 2024

Nikki Haley, 52, served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under President Donald Trump from January 2017 through December 2018. Before that, she was the first woman and first Indian American to serve as governor of South Carolina, from 2011 to 2017. The daughter of Sikh immigrants from Punjab, India, Haley is considered the first woman of color to be a major candidate for the Republican nomination.

Haley emerged as Trump’s main opponent in the 2024 Republican primary field but won only two contests—in Vermont and the District of Columbia, which was the first win by a woman in a Republican primary—and 89 total delegates before suspending her campaign.

Read more about Nikki Haley

Asa Hutchinson

Ended campaign on January 16, 2024

Asa Hutchinson, 73, most recently served two terms as governor of Arkansas, leaving office in January 2023. He also served three successive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives starting in 1997. President George W. Bush appointed him director of the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2001.

As Arkansas governor, Hutchinson signed several abortion restrictions into law and championed a series of tax cuts. However, he angered conservatives in 2022 when he vetoed legislation banning gender-affirming medical care for children. The vocal critic of Donald Trump has suggested the former president drop out of the 2024 race amid his legal challenges. But with Trump remaining a favored candidate, Hutchinson’s assessment didn’t resonate with many voters. He dropped out of the race after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses.

Perry Johnson

Ended campaign on October 20, 2023

Perry Johnson, 76, is a businessman and author who was notably disqualified from the 2022 gubernatorial primary in Michigan for collecting invalid petition signatures. The Republican hasn’t served in elected office before. According to The Perry Johnson Foundation, he is the founder and owner of more than 70 companies operating worldwide and is an expert in quality standards.

During his 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference speech, he described himself as pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and “pro-freedom.” Johnson failed to meet the polling threshold for the first Republican debate in August. He cited this inability to share his vision on the stage as a primary reason for suspending his campaign.

Mike Pence

Ended campaign on October 28, 2023

Mike Pence, 64, served as vice president during Donald Trump’s term in the White House. He is also a former governor of Indiana and served the state in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 through 2013.

During his campaign, Pence focused on his record as a traditional conservative—open to changing the social safety net to keep programs financially sound while backing aid to Ukraine—as opposed to more radical rivals like DeSantis and Trump. He distanced himself from the former president following his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, which alienated many of the Republican base still loyal to Trump. With campaign debt piling up, Pence suspended his bid on Oct. 28. “It’s become clear to me: This is not my time,” he said, according to the AP.

Read More About Mike Pence

Vivek Ramaswamy

Ended campaign on January 15, 2024

Vivek Ramaswamy, 38, is a biotech and healthcare entrepreneur and the author of Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence and Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam. He started the company Roivant Sciences, where he oversaw the development of five drugs that became FDA-approved, according to his campaign site. In 2022, Ramaswamy co-founded the Strive Asset Management firm, for which he serves as executive chairman.

Ramaswamy took a radical foreign policy stance in the first Republican debate by suggesting that Ukraine cede territory taken by Russia in the countries’ ongoing conflict and abstain from joining NATO in exchange for Russian President Vladimir Putin exiting Moscow’s military alliance with China. It was one of a handful of splashes Ramaswamy made before suspending his campaign after the Iowa caucuses.

Tim Scott

Ended campaign on November 12, 2023

Tim Scott, 58, has represented South Carolina in the U.S. Senate since 2013 and is currently a ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee. He won his most recent Senate term over Democratic challenger Krystle Matthews by almost 26 points in the 2022 midterms, which he hoped was a sign of his mainstream appeal. Scott is aligned with several core Republican positions, including reducing government spending and restricting abortion, but is known for striking a more optimistic tone than many of his Republican colleagues.

According to the Associated Press, Scott started his bid with more money—$22 million left over from his 2022 Senate campaign—than any other presidential candidate in U.S. history. However, his super PAC canceled millions of dollars of planned advertising in October, and he suspended his campaign on Nov. 12 after gaining little support on the debate stage.

Francis Suarez

Ended campaign on August 29, 2023

Francis Suarez, 46, is an attorney and former Miami city commissioner elected the city’s mayor in 2017 and won a second term in 2021. His father, Xavier Suarez, previously served as Miami mayor.

Francis considers himself a traditional conservative similar to former President Ronald Reagan in style and beliefs. He has also spoken about combatting climate change and promoting tech industries like cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence. He sought to be a unity candidate but struggled to grow his base. After failing to qualify for the first RNC debate on Aug. 23, he stuck to his word that candidates who didn’t make the grade should drop out. He ended his campaign six days later.

Marianne Williamson

Ended campaign on February 7, 2024

Marianne Williamson, 71, is an author, political activist, and spiritual thought leader. According to her business site, she has written 14 books, four of which were No. 1 New York Times bestsellers. She ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 before returning to the race again in 2024.

Williamson founded Project Angel Food, a nonprofit that has delivered more than 15 million meals to ill and dying homebound patients since 1989. In 2004, she co-founded The Peace Alliance and supported the creation of a U.S. Department of Peace.

In a statement posted to her business site in February 2023, Williamson said she ran for president to “help bring an aberrational chapter of our history to a close and to help bring forth a new beginning.”

However, her nontraditional campaign style struggled to raise money and did not connect with voters. She ended her candidacy after earning only about 3 percent of the vote in the Nevada Democratic primary.

When Is the 2024 Presidential Election?

Election Day is November 5, 2024. Register to vote or check your registration status on the National Association of Secretaries of State website.

The primary campaign season continues on March 8, with the American Samoa Republican presidential caucus. Georgia, Mississippi, and Washington will hold their Republican and Democratic primaries four days later on March 12.

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