2020 United States Presidential Election: 59th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

Former vice president Joe Biden and U.S. senator Kamala Harris defeated incumbent Republican President Donald Trump and incumbent Vice President Mike Pence, on the Democratic Party ticket.

2020 United States presidential election

← 2016 November 3, 2020 2024 →
538 members of the Electoral College 270 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	66.2% (preliminary)
Nominee Joe Biden Donald Trump Party Democratic Republican Home state Delaware Florida Running mate Kamala Harris Mike Pence Electoral vote 306 232 States carried 25 + DC + NE-02 25 + ME-02 Popular vote 81,268,867 74,216,747 Percentage 51.3% 46.9%
The 2020 electoral map results: Blue shows states won by Biden/Harris. Red shows states won by Trump/Pence.
President before election Donald Trump Republican Elected President Joe Biden Democratic

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	Data from Wikidata

Voters selected presidential electors who then voted on December 14, 2020 to either elect a new president and vice president or re-elect the incumbents. On November 7, Biden won the election and became the president-elect of the United States.

Donald Trump, the 45th president, started a campaign to be president for four more years in the Republican primaries. Several state Republican Party organizations cancelled their primaries in a show of support for his candidacy. He became the presumptive nominee in March 2020.

Twenty-seven major candidates started campaigns for the Democratic nomination. This was the largest number of candidates for any political party in modern-day American politics. In April 2020, former Vice President Joe Biden became the presumptive nominee after beating Senator Bernie Sanders. In August 2020, Biden picked U.S. Senator and former 2020 candidate Kamala Harris as his running mate.

Some issues of the election included the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which killed over 220,000 Americans at the time of the election, protests in reaction to the murder of George Floyd and other black Americans, the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, and the Affordable Care Act, with Biden wanting to protect and expand it and Trump pushing for ending it.

After the election, Donald Trump refused to accept that he lost and filed over 40 lawsuits against states and politicians trying to change the election results. The lawsuits said that the election was not fair. Almost all of the lawsuits failed in court because Trump could not prove what he said. In some states, the votes were counted again, which still showed that Biden won. After the electors voted for Biden on December 14, Trump tried other ways to overturn the election results. When the electoral votes were counted in Congress on January 6-7, some Republicans voted not to count votes from certain states.

Biden was inaugurated on January 20, 2021, at midday when he took the oath of office.

The 2020 U.S. presidential election was the first time all members of the millennial generation were able to vote. The age group of people in the 18 to the 45-year-old area was 40 percent of those able to vote in 2020.

The United States House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump on December 18, 2019, making him the third president in American history to be impeached. He was acquitted by the United States Senate on February 5, 2020.

Mail voting

More people voted by mail in the United States, with 25% of voters nationwide mailing their ballots in 2016 and 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 means there has been an increase in mail voting because of the possible danger of large groups at polling places. For the 2020 election, a state-by-state analysis found that 76% of Americans are eligible to vote by mail in 2020, a record number. The analysis predicted that 80 million ballots could be cast by mail in 2020—more than double the number in 2016. The Postal Service sent a letter to multiple states in July 2020, warning that the service would not be able to meet the state's deadlines for requesting and casting last-minute absentee ballots.

President Trump was critical of voting by mail saying that it would make it easier for voter fraud to happen. Many people dropped their votes in voting boxes in their voting places instead of going to the polls.

Nominees

2020 Republican Party ticket
Donald Trump	Mike Pence
for President	for Vice President
President of the United States (2017-2021)	Vice President of the United States (2017-2021)
Campaign

Other candidates

Candidates in this section are sorted by state ballot access
Bill Weld	Joe Walsh	Rocky De La Fuente	Zoltan Istvan	Mark Sanford
2016 Libertarian vice presidential nominee 68th Governor of Massachusetts (1991–1997)	U.S. Representative from Illinois (2011–2013)	Businessman Reform nominee for President in 2016	Transhumanist	U.S. Representative from South Carolina (1995–2001, 2013–2019) 68th Governor (1998–2002)
Campaign FEC filing	Campaign FEC filing	Campaign FEC filing	FEC filing	Campaign FEC filing
Exploratory Committee: February 15, 2019 Announced: April 15, 2019 Suspended: March 18, 2020	Announced: August 25, 2019 Suspended: February 7, 2020 Endorsed Joe Biden (Democrat)	Announced: May 16, 2019	Announced: November 18, 2019 Suspended: March 12, 2020	Announced: September 8, 2019 Suspended: November 12, 2019
1 delegate 286,564 votes	169,713 votes	73,119 votes	14,291 votes	4,258 votes

Convention site

On July 20, 2018, the Republican National Convention chose Charlotte, North Carolina as the site for their 2020 national convention. The convention was held between August 24 to 27. In June 2020, the convention location was moved to Jacksonville, Florida over COVID-19 health measures.

National polling

Nominees

2020 Democratic Party ticket
Joe Biden	Kamala Harris
for President	for Vice President
47th Vice President of the United States (2009–2017)	U.S. Senator from California (2017–2021)
Campaign

Withdrawn candidates

Candidates in this section are sorted by date of withdrawal from the primaries
Bernie Sanders	Tulsi Gabbard	Elizabeth Warren	Michael Bloomberg	Amy Klobuchar	Pete Buttigieg	Tom Steyer
U.S. senator from Vermont (2007–present) U.S. representative from VT-AL (1991–2007)	U.S. representative from HI-02 (2013–2021)	U.S. senator from Massachusetts (2013–present)	Mayor of New York City, New York (2002–2013) CEO of Bloomberg L.P.	U.S. senator from Minnesota (2007–present)	Mayor of South Bend, Indiana (2012–2020)	Hedge fund manager Founder of Farallon Capital and Beneficial State Bank
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
W: April 8, 2020 8,466,161 votes 1,007 delegates	W: March 19, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 191,459 votes 2 delegates	W: March 5, 2020 2,607,928 votes 58 delegates	W: March 4, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 2,422,368 votes 43 delegates	W: March 2, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 494,695 votes 7 delegates	W: March 1, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 855,014 votes 21 delegates	W: February 29, 2020 248,875 votes
Deval Patrick	Michael Bennet	Andrew Yang	John Delaney	Cory Booker	Marianne Williamson	Julián Castro
Governor of Massachusetts (2007–2015)	U.S. senator from Colorado (2009–present)	Entrepreneur Founder of Venture for America	U.S. representative from MD-06 (2013–2019)	U.S. senator from New Jersey (2013–present) Mayor of Newark, New Jersey (2006–2013)	Author Founder of Project Angel Food	Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (2014–2017) Mayor of San Antonio, Texas (2009–2014)
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
W: February 12, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 19,630 votes	W: February 11, 2020 42,322 votes	W: February 11, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 108,313 votes	W: January 31, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 15,985 votes	W: January 13, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 28,913 votes	W: January 10, 2020 (endorsed Sanders) 21,437 votes	W: January 2, 2020 (endorsed Warren) 36,277 votes
Kamala Harris	Steve Bullock	Joe Sestak	Wayne Messam	Beto O'Rourke	Tim Ryan	Bill de Blasio
U.S. senator from California (2017–2021) Attorney General of California (2011–2017)	Governor of Montana (2013–present) Attorney General of Montana (2009–2013)	U.S. representative from PA-07 (2007–2011) Former Vice Admiral of the United States Navy	Mayor of Miramar, Florida (2015–present)	U.S. representative from TX-16 (2013–2019)	U.S. representative from OH-13 (2013–present) U.S. representative from OH-17 (2003–2013)	Mayor of New York City, New York (2014–present)
		—
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
W: December 2, 2019 (became Biden's VP) 844 votes	W: December 3, 2019 (endorsed Biden) 549 votes	W: December 1, 2019 (endorsed Klobuchar) 5,251 votes	W: November 19, 2019 0 votes	W: November 1, 2019 (endorsed Biden) 1 vote	W: October 24, 2019 (endorsed Biden) 0 votes	W: September 20, 2019 (endorsed Sanders) 0 votes
Kirsten Gillibrand	Seth Moulton	Jay Inslee	John Hickenlooper	Mike Gravel	Eric Swalwell	Richard Ojeda
U.S. senator from New York (2009–present) U.S. representative from NY-20 (2007–2009)	U.S. representative from MA-06 (2015–present)	Governor of Washington (2013–present) U.S. representative from WA-01 (1999–2012) U.S. representative from WA-04 (1993–1995)	Governor of Colorado (2011–2019) Mayor of Denver, Colorado (2003–2011)	U.S. senator from Alaska (1969–1981)	U.S. representative from CA-15 (2013–present)	West Virginia state senator from WV-SD07 (2016–2019)
						—
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
W: August 28, 2019 (endorsed Biden) 0 votes	W: August 23, 2019 (endorsed Biden) 0 votes	W: August 21, 2019 1 vote	W: August 15, 2019 (endorsed Bennet) 1 vote	W: August 6, 2019 (endorsed Gabbard and Sanders) 0 votes	W: July 8, 2019 0 votes	W: January 25, 2019 0 votes

Convention site

The 2020 Democratic National Convention happened in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 13–16, 2020.

National polling

Trump vs. Biden

4-way race

Though Jacob Hornberger won the most primaries and received the most votes, Jo Jorgensen was chosen as the party's presidential nominee on the night of May 23, 2020, after four rounds of voting.

Nominees

2020 Libertarian Party ticket
Jo Jorgensen	Spike Cohen
for President	for Vice President
Senior Lecturer at Clemson University	Podcaster and businessman
Campaign

Withdrawn candidates

Candidates in this section are sorted by date of withdrawal
Jacob Hornberger	Vermin Supreme	John Monds	James P. Gray	Adam Kokesh	Dan Behrman
Founder and President of the Future of Freedom Foundation	Performance artist, activist, and political satirist	Former President of the Grady County, Georgia NAACP	Former presiding judge for the Superior Court of Orange County, California	Libertarian and anti-war political activist	Software engineer and podcaster
		—	—	—
—	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	—
W: May 23, 2020 8,986 votes (20.55%) 236 first round delegates	W: May 23, 2020 4,288 votes (9.81%) 171 first round delegates	W: May 23, 2020 1 vote (<0.01%) 147 first round delegates	W: May 23, 2020 42 votes (0.10%) 98 first round delegates	W: May 23, 2020 2,728 votes (6.24%) 77 first round delegates	W: May 23, 2020 2,337 votes (5.34%) 0 first round delegates
Sam Robb	Justin Amash	Ken Armstrong	Lincoln Chafee	Max Abramson	Kim Ruff
Software engineer and author Former naval officer	U.S. representative from MI-03 (2011-present)	U.S. Coast Guard commissioned officer (1977–1994)	Governor of Rhode Island (2011–2015) U.S. Senator from Rhode Island (1999–2007)	New Hampshire State Representative (2014–2016; 2018–present)	Vice chair of the LPRadical Caucus
	—	—	—
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	—
W: May 23, 2020 1,943 votes (5.06%) 0 first round delegates	W: May 17, 2020 3 votes (0.01%) 17 first round delegates	W: April 29, 2020 3,509 votes (8.03%) 0 first round delegates	W: April 5, 2020 294 votes (0.67%) 1 (write-in) first round delegate	W: March 3, 2020 2,052 votes (5.34%) 0 first round delegates	W: January 11, 2020 3,045 votes (7.93%) 0 first round delegates

Convention site

On December 10, 2017, the Libertarian National Committee chose Austin, Texas as the site of their 2020 national convention. The convention was going to be held there between May 22–25, 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was held through an online convention from May 22 to May 24.

Nominee

2020 Green Party ticket
Howie Hawkins	Angela Walker
for President	for Vice President
Co-founder of the Green Party	ATU Local 998 Legislative Director (2011–2013)
Campaign

Withdrawn candidates

Candidates in this section are sorted by popular vote
Dario Hunter Officially Recognized	Sedinam Moyowasifza-Curry	Dennis Lambert	David Rolde Officially Recognized
Member of the Youngstown Board of Education (2016–2020)	Activist	Documentary Filmmaker	Co-chair of the Greater Boston Chapter of the Green-Rainbow Party
	—	—	—
Campaign	—	—	—
3,087 votes (18.1%) 67.5 delegates	2,229 votes (2.9%) 10 delegates	2,029 votes (2.6%) 9 delegates	960 votes (1.6%) 5.5 delegates

Convention site

The 2020 Green National Convention was held in Detroit, Michigan from July 9-12. Greenville, South Carolina and Spartanburg, South Carolina were also considered to host the convention.

Party for Socialism and Liberation

 

2020 Party for Socialism and Liberation ticket
Gloria La Riva	Sunil Freeman
for President	for Vice President
Activist and writer from California	Author and activist from the District of Columbia
Campaign
Additional Party Nominations:	Liberty Union Party Peace and Freedom Party

Alliance Party

 

2020 Alliance Party ticket
Rocky De La Fuente	Darcy Richardson
for President	for Vice President
Businessman and perennial candidate from California	Author, historian and political activist from Florida
Campaign
Additional Party nominations:	Reform Party (United States) Natural Law Party of Michigan American Independent Party

Constitution Party

 

2020 Constitution Party ticket
Don Blankenship	William Mohr
for President	for Vice President
Former CEO of Massey Energy from West Virginia	Chairman of the U.S. Taxpayers Party of Michigan from Michigan
Campaign

American Solidarity Party

 

2020 American Solidarity Party ticket
Brian T. Carroll	Amar Patel
for President	for Vice President
Teacher from California	Chairman of the ASP from Illinois
Campaign

Prohibition Party

 

Various independent candidate campaigns were on the ballot in several states, among the most notable of these are billionaire and child actor Brock Pierce and rapper Kanye West.

 

Brock Pierce

Independent
Brock Pierce	Karla Ballard
for President	for Vice President
Director of the Bitcoin Foundation and former actor from Puerto Rico	Entrepreneur from Pennsylvania
Additional Party nominations:	American Shopping Party Independence Party of New York

 

Kanye West

2020 Birthday Party ticket
Kanye West	Michelle Tidball
for President	for Vice President
Rapper, producer and fashion designer from Illinois	Preacher from Wyoming
Campaign

• Candidates in bold are on ballots representing ≥270 electoral votes, without needing write-in states.
• All other candidates do not have ballot access adding up to more than 270 electoral votes, but have write-in access to at least 270.

Three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate were scheduled. The second presidential debate was cancelled, because Trump was ill with COVID-19. The presidential candidates still debated in the third debate.

After the election, Trump, and many of his supporters, said that he only lost because of fraud or conspiracies. In early December, only a quarter of Republicans believed that Biden was the real winner of the election. Trump did not accept Biden's win until January 7.

Lawsuits

Trump and his lawyers filed over 40 lawsuits after the election, in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Biden won each of these states by a small number of votes. Some lawsuits said that states should not allow more time to collect ballots in the mail, and some said that voters should not be allowed to put ballots in drop boxes. Other lawsuits said that election workers did not make sure all signatures were correct. Judges rejected most of the lawsuits because they did not have evidence. The Trump campaign only won one lawsuit.

Many of the lawsuits asked states to remove thousands of votes, and others asked for the states to ignore the results of the election. In December, the Attorney General of Texas filed a lawsuit (Texas v. Pennsylvania) against Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, and Wisconsin, in front of the Supreme Court. It asked the court to stop these states from certifying their votes. Over 100 Republicans in the House of Representatives supported it. However, the Supreme Court rejected it and said Texas did not have standing.

Trump campaign tries to overturn the election

After lawsuits failed, Trump said many times that the election was "rigged". From November to January, Trump and his lawyers made phone calls to many election officials, and told them that they should not certify the votes for Biden. In the calls, they said many things which were false. On January 2, Trump called the Georgia Secretary of State and told him that Georgia (where Biden was the winner) should find more votes for Trump, so Trump could win.

Electoral college count

On January 6-7, members of Congress counted the votes of the Electoral College. Some Republican members of Congress signed objections to the votes (they thought the votes should not be counted) from Arizona and Pennsylvania. By the end, seven Republican senators and 138 Republican representatives voted not to count these votes. Half of senators and half of the representatives must vote to throw out electoral votes. Congress has never thrown out electoral votes.

While Congress was counting the votes on January 6, Far-right terrorists broke into the US Capitol building in protest. Members of Congress hid for hours until police forced the protestors to leave.

• Learn more about the election process:
  • United States presidential primary
  • Caucus
  • United States presidential election
  • Electoral college