(Reuters) -President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will face each other in the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5 in what looks set to be a divisive, closely fought contest. Several third-party hopefuls are also running.
Here is a list of the candidates:
DONALD TRUMP
Trump, in office from 2017-2021, has secured enough delegates to clinch the Republican nomination, setting up the first presidential rematch in nearly 70 years.
He has leveraged his unprecedented legal challenges to solidify support among his base and cast his third bid for the White House in part as retribution against perceived political enemies. He calls supporters jailed for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol "hostages" and uses increasingly dystopian rhetoric in his campaign speeches.
Trump, 77, faces 88 charges in four criminal cases over efforts to subvert the 2020 election as well as unlawfully keeping classified national security documents and falsifying business records. His first criminal trial is scheduled to begin on April 15.
He has said without evidence the criminal charges are a Democratic conspiracy designed to keep him from winning, with some of his legal challenges reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Justice Department has denied any political interference.
If elected to another four-year term, he has vowed revenge on his political enemies, and said he would not be a dictator except "on day one." He also wants the power to replace some federal civil service workers with loyalists.
He sparked criticism from Western leaders for saying the U.S. would not defend NATO members that failed to spend enough on defense and would encourage Russia to attack them. He also pressed congressional Republicans to stall a military aid package for Ukraine.
Trump has made immigration his top domestic campaign issue, declaring he would carry out mass deportations, create holding camps, utilize the National Guard, end birthright citizenship, and expand a travel ban on people from certain countries. He has referred to migrants as "animals."
On abortion, Trump has taken credit for the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, but he has criticized some Republican-led states' six-week abortion bans.
Having previously signaled support for a ban beyond 15 weeks of pregnancy, in April he said abortion laws should be determined by the states, stopping short of a national ban that could have hurt his electoral chances. He has also backed IVF.
He has promised sweeping changes that include eliminating Obamacare health insurance and undoing much of the Biden administration’s work to fight climate change.
Trump has yet to announce a vice presidential running mate, but several possibilities have been floated. Mike Pence, who ran alongside Trump in 2016 and 2020 but was targeted by Trump and his supporters amid the Jan. 6 attack, has refused to endorse him in November's contest.
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
JOE BIDEN
Biden launched his 2020 candidacy as an urgent bid to defend American liberties and protect democracy and has cast his reelection bid in the same light, saying Trump threatens the future of American democracy.
Biden faced no serious challenger for the party's nomination, which he clinched in March.
November's election will be much tougher, with the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll putting Biden's voter support at 39%, one percentage point ahead of Trump at 38%.
Biden, the oldest U.S. president ever at 81, must convince voters he has the stamina for another four years in office and is more fit for office than Trump, who is just four years younger, while also combating low approval ratings.
The economy will also factor in his reelection campaign. While the U.S. escaped an anticipated recession and is growing faster than economists expected, inflation hit 40-year highs in 2022 and the cost of essentials is weighing on voters.
Earlier in his term, Biden pushed through massive economic stimulus and infrastructure spending packages to boost U.S. industrial output. He has received little recognition from voters so far, and has renewed efforts to highlight benefits such as new semiconductor manufacturing plants and plans to address housing costs, among other economic efforts.
Biden's handling of immigration policy has also been criticized by Republicans and Democrats as migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border hit record highs during his administration.
He has led the response of Western governments to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, persuading allies to sanction Russia and support Kyiv.
He has also provided military aid to Israel in its conflict with Hamas in Gaza while pushing for more humanitarian assistance, but has threatened to condition support for Israel's offensive on it taking concrete steps to protect aid workers and civilians, seeking for the first time to leverage U.S. aid to influence Israeli military behavior.
Biden has faced sharp criticism from Democrats for not pushing harder and sooner for a ceasefire and matching his tougher rhetoric on Israel with action. Groups pushing for a ceasefire have rallied tens of thousands of angry voters to vote "uncommitted," "uninstructed" or to leave ballots blank, depending on the state, in several Democratic primaries in which he was a candidate.
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
Best-selling author and self-help guru Marianne Williamson, 71, has relaunched her long-shot 2024 bid for the nomination on a platform of "justice and love" less than a month after dropping out.
In a February statement, she said she had suspended her campaign because she was losing "the horse race" but was getting back in to fight Trump's "dark and authoritarian vision."
Despite Biden surpassing the number of delegates needed to win the nomination, she has yet to end her campaign.
Williamson previously ran as a Democrat in the 2020 presidential primary but dropped out of that race before any votes were cast.
INDEPENDENTS
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR
An anti-vaccine activist and environmental advocate, Kennedy, 70, is running as an independent after initially challenging Biden for the Democratic nomination, but he is far behind in polling.
Kennedy could siphon votes from Trump and Biden, according to the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, published on March 14, that showed Kennedy was backed by 15% of registered voters.
Kennedy is the son of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential bid but has drawn rebukes from his famous family over his campaign.
A Super Bowl ad heavily featuring his connection to his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, angered his family members and prompted him to apologize. On St. Patrick's Day, many Kennedy family members posed with Biden at the White House and his relatives are reportedly set to step up their efforts to publicly back the president.
Kennedy has offered his staunch support for Israel and questioned the need for a six-week ceasefire backed by Biden. He has said he views the situation at the U.S. southern border as a humanitarian crisis and opposes Trump's border wall.
He has vowed to repeal key elements of Biden's signature climate bill over tax breaks he says help the oil industry.
On health, Kennedy has taken different positions on abortion. He has been criticized for making false medical claims over the years on vaccines but says he would still allow Americans to have access to them.
He has picked picked wealthy lawyer Nicole Shanahan as his vice presidential running mate.
CORNEL WEST
The political activist, philosopher and academic said in June he would launch a third-party bid for president that is likely to appeal to progressive, Democratic-leaning voters.
West, 70, initially ran as a Green Party candidate, but in October he said people "want good policies over partisan politics" and announced his bid as an independent. He has promised to end poverty and guarantee housing.
JILL STEIN
Jill Stein, a physician, re-upped her 2016 Green Party bid on Nov. 9, accusing Democrats of betraying their promises "for working people, youth and the climate again and again - while Republicans don’t even make such promises in the first place."
Stein, 73, raised millions of dollars for recounts after Trump's surprise 2016 victory. Her allegations yielded only one electoral review in Wisconsin, which showed Trump had won.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas and Susan Heavey; Editing by Ross Colvin, Jonathan Oatis, Lisa Shumaker and Daniel Wallis)
