US election 2024: Candidates, dates, how the president is elected and all you need to know

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris to face off in November 5 vote

Election day is on November 5. AP

Voters are gearing up to head to the polls for the US presidential election.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump, respectively the Democratic and Republican nominees, are vying for the White House.

Election season starts in mid-September, with absentee or mail-in ballots sent to eligible voters and in-person polling places opening up for early voting. Election day is Tuesday, November 5.

The National takes a look at the major players and important dates in this year's presidential election:

US presidential election candidates

Kamala Harris: The US Vice President is running for office after her boss President Joe Biden, 81, ended his re-election bid in July.

Mr Biden, the oldest president in US history, stepped aside amid low polls, concerns over his fitness to serve, as well as backlash over his administration's support for Israel during the war in Gaza.

Ms Harris, 59, inherited his Democratic campaign apparatus and hit the election trail, beating fundraising records and garnering a wide pool of support within weeks.

Donald Trump: The former president, who narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in July, is making his third bid for the White House, handily winning the nomination at the Republican National Convention in July.

Mr Trump was convicted on 34 counts in a hush-money case and also faces dozens of other charges across several court cases. He has been accused of mishandling classified documents and leading a conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

After Mr Biden left the race due in part to his age, Mr Trump, 78, is now facing concerns.

Who are the vice presidential candidates?

Tim Walz: Ms Harris chose the Minnesota Governor and former congressman as her running mate.

The former teacher and American football coach also served in the National Guard for decades.

JD Vance: The junior senator from Ohio is Mr Trump's running mate.

The author of Hillbilly Elegy is also a veteran and founded a venture capital firm before becoming a politician.

Which candidates have dropped out?

The Republican Party originally had a crowded campaign field, although no candidate posed much of a challenge to Mr Trump.

The leading candidates against Mr Trump were former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who both dropped out in early 2024. They were awarded 97 and nine delegates, respectively.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy had three delegates, although he also pulled out of the race.

In the Democratic Party, Mr Biden had no major competition throughout the campaign.

The only candidates to have gained delegates were entrepreneur Jason Palmer and Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips, with three and five delegates, respectively.

Mr Biden – and now Ms Harris – have faced challenges from a small but vocal movement encouraging Democrats to vote “uncommitted” in the primaries in response to support for Israel during the war in Gaza.

The uncommitted vote has been awarded 36 delegates, and they are trying to use that power to include the Palestinian cause at the Democratic National Convention.

Who is running on third-party tickets?

For the Independent Party: Lawyer Robert F Kennedy Jr, a nephew of former president John F Kennedy, is running for office, with his campaign focused on ending “forever wars”, ensuring tax civil liberties and tax fairness, and anti-vaccine activism.

Ivy League professor and academic Cornel West is running as a progressive.

For the Green Party, Jill Stein, who ran for president in 2012 and 2016, is running for her party's nomination again. She has a large amount of support among Arab Americans.

What is a party convention and when are they?

A party convention is when delegates from every US state and territory formally submit their votes to nominate a candidate to represent the party in the presidential election.

Conventions often feature speeches by party leaders and the candidates.

• The Republican National Convention took place July 15 to 18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• The Democratic National Convention will take place August 19 to 22 in Chicago, Illinois.

When are the presidential debates?

Traditions over the debate schedule and formats have gone out of the window.

The candidates this year have bucked the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates to instead co-ordinate their own debates with television networks on the basis of rules and formats they agreed on – no audiences, enforcing time limits on questions and holding them earlier because of early voting.

Mr Trump and Mr Biden held one debate that led to the demise of the US President's re-election bid. Now with Ms Harris on the Democratic ticket, the two are still scheduled to debate before early voting begins.

• The presidential debate is scheduled for September 10, hosted by ABC.

Mr Trump has challenged Ms Harris to two additional debates but the Harris campaign has so far committed only to September 10.

It is not clear if Mr Vance and Mr Walz will debate.

What is the Electoral College?

The US president is not elected by popular vote, but rather by a majority of electors, in a unique system called the Electoral College.

Each state has a specific number of electors based on the census, depending on the number of senators and congressional districts.

A presidential candidate needs the support of 270 out of 538 electors in the Electoral College to win the election.

When is the certification of the election?

After the electors hold meetings in their states and send in formal certifications, members of Congress will meet at the Capitol in Washington to certify the results on January 6, 2025.

When is the inauguration?

Inauguration day is on January 20, 2025.