The nation is nearing the end of election season. On November 5th, the Collins Center for the Arts will be filled with voters waiting to cast their ballot. As of Oct. 22, nearly 19 million Americans have cast early ballots in the presidential election, according to the Associated Press. Who will emerge victorious is anybody’s guess. But who are the candidates and what are their major policy stances?
Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris is an American attorney and politician who is currently serving as the 49th Vice President of the United States. She is the first woman, Black person and person of South Asian descent to hold this office. She was born on Oct. 20, 1964 in Oakland, California, and after graduating college began her career in law — serving as District Attorney of San Francisco and later as California’s Attorney General. In 2016, she was elected as a representative of California to the U.S. Senate, where she focused on issues like criminal justice reform, health care, and immigration. In 2020, Harris was chosen as Joe Biden’s running mate in the presidential election, which resulted in her historic vice presidency.
Here are key policies, taken from her official website:
Economic Policy: Create an “Opportunity Economy” with tax cuts for the middle class and investments in clean energy.
Housing: Build 3 million new homes, including affordable units, and offer assistance to first-time homebuyers.
Healthcare: Expand the Child Tax Credit and cap childcare costs.
Reproductive Rights: Support national abortion protections and codify Roe v. Wade.
Climate Change: Invest in green energy and support electric vehicle adoption.
Labor Rights: Back labor unions and workers’ rights legislation.
Supreme Court Reform: Propose ethical rules and consider term limits for justices.
Donald Trump
Donald Trump is a businessman and media personality who was the 45th President of the United States. Born in 1946 in Queens, New York, he entered his family’s real estate business called the Trump Organization. He later became known for his independent ventures in real estate and television. His term as president drew both support and criticism regarding his administration’s policies on immigration, deregulation and foreign relations. He remains an influential and polarizing figure in American politics.
Here are key policies, taken from his official website:
Border Security: Complete the border wall and implement the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.
Economic Policy: Reduce inflation, achieve energy dominance, and transform the U.S. into a manufacturing superpower.
Tax Reform: Introduce significant tax cuts for workers and eliminate taxes on tips.
Constitutional Rights: Defend the Constitution, including freedoms of speech and religion and uphold the right to bear arms.
National Defense: Strengthen and modernize the military to ensure it remains the most powerful globally.
Social Programs: Protect Social Security and Medicare without cuts or changes to the retirement age.
The polls place these two candidates as the frontrunners to win, but other names have also entered the presidential race and continue to draw voters.
Chase Oliver
Chase Oliver is an American political figure and the Libertarian Party’s nominee in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1985, Oliver began his career in the restaurant sector and later transitioned to work in import shipping. He became politically active in the early 2000s due to his opposition to the Iraq War, which led him to join the Libertarian Party in 2010. Oliver has since run as a Libertarian candidate in Georgia’s fifth Congressional District in 2020 and in the 2022 U.S. Senate race, where his share of the vote contributed to a runoff. Oliver lives in Atlanta, Georgia, and continues his involvement in Libertarian politics.
Here are key platforms, as taken from his official website:
Education: Decentralizing education by abolishing the Department of Education, shifting control to states and communities.
Healthcare: Reducing healthcare costs by expanding Health Savings Accounts and allowing cross-state insurance purchasing.
Gun Control: Defending Second Amendment rights and opposing restrictive gun control measures
Foreign Policy: Ending military interventions to focus on free trade and global goodwill.
Jill Stein
Jill Stein is a physician, environmental health advocate and political activist known for her work with the Green Party. Born in 1950 in Chicago, she attended Harvard University for both her undergraduate and medical degrees. Stein practiced internal medicine for over two decades before moving into environmental activism, where she focused on public health risks from environmental pollutants.
Here are key platforms, as taken from her official website:
People’s Economy: Create an Economic Bill of Rights to ensure living-wage jobs, housing, healthcare, education, and secure retirement for all.
Labor: Support workers’ rights, fair wages, and improved working conditions, with a focus on strengthening unions.
Housing: Increase affordable housing availability and work to end homelessness.
Healthcare: Implement a universal, single-payer healthcare system to cover all Americans.
Prisons and Policing: Reform criminal justice to end mass incarceration, abolish private prisons, and address systemic racism.
Social Justice: Advocate for equality and justice for marginalized groups, including women, people of color, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and people with disabilities.
Immigration: Support humane immigration policies that respect human rights and create a path to citizenship.
Climate and Energy: Declare a climate emergency and advance a Green New Deal to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2035.
While the polls show Harris and Trump as the favorites to win, Stein has seen some traction among younger voters as a possible alternative to the divisiveness of the two parties.
“Stein’s platform appeals to me because, like many Americans— including the first ones— I feel that the two-party system is tearing our nation apart. There is no ‘lesser evil’ when both candidates hail from parties that are corrupted by tech, commerce and weapons corporations,” said UMaine student Chance Lauer. Since the DNC uses its influence to undermine the Stein Ware campaign, I really don’t want to fuel the political machines that are further degrading our country.”
On campus and across the nation, voters face a choice between presidential candidates that could impact the future of this country forever. Regardless of the issues driving them, it is clear that Americans are making their voice heard as Election Day approaches.
