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What You Need to Know about the 2020 Presidential Candidates

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Hofstra chapter.

In the past few months, a slew of politicians have announced their runs for President in the 2020 election. This barrage of names, positions, and ever-present scandals is daunting, if not off-putting, in regards to the presidential race. Politics, at its worst, is an out-of-touch and confusing game. The disdain towards politics has only been spurred by the mess of the current political scheme. Regardless of political standing, the past three years or so have been marked by extreme political turmoil. 

We need to remember, though, that politics at its best is an exciting collection of leaders all working to further their personal goals while representing those that elected them. Get excited, because the 2020 presidential election is going to be just as, if not more, influential than the 2016 race. 

The following is a list of some of the current 2020 Presidential Candidates. Given that there are sixteen Democratic candidates, alone, this is the list of the publicized candidates. I will provide links below that cover all of those who have announced their runnings. 

Republicans 

  • Donald Trump: Trump is currently President of the United States. He announced that he would run for reelection on January 20, 2017. According to his website, Trump has enforced immigration laws, repealed the individual mandates of Obamacare, and has removed many economic restrictions during his term.

 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Republican Approval Rating just hit 93%. Sorry Haters! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

A post shared by President Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on

 

Democrats

  • Kamala Harris: Harris is currently a Senator from California. She is the child of two immigrant parents, in whom she takes great pride. She considers some of her biggest accomplishments as Senator to be getting tax cuts for the middle class, winning settlements against big corporations, and fighting to bring down California’s Proposition 8.

 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

My whole life, I’ve only had one client: the people.⁣ ⁣ Fighting for the people meant fighting on behalf of survivors of sexual assault — a fight not just against predators but a fight against silence and stigma.⁣ ⁣ For the people meant fighting for a fairer criminal justice system. At a time when prevention and redemption were not in the vocabulary or mindset of most district attorneys, we created an initiative to get skills and job training instead of jail time for young people arrested for drugs.⁣ ⁣ For the people meant fighting for middle-class families who had been defrauded by banks and were losing their homes by the millions in the Great Recession. We went after the five biggest banks in the United States and won $20 billion for California homeowners and together we passed the strongest anti-foreclosure law in the United States of America. We did that together.⁣ ⁣ And as President, I’ll have that same fighting spirit for the people.

A post shared by Kamala Harris (@kamalaharris) on

 

  • Bernie Sanders: Sanders is currently a Senator from Vermont. He catapulted into the national conscience when he ran for the Democratic bid in 2016, which he lost to Hillary Clinton. His campaign is built upon taking on Donald Trump and the billionaire class. Sanders advocates, among other things, for a higher minimum wage and the decriminalization of marijuana.
  • Amy Klobuchar: Klobuchar is currently a Senator from Minnesota. She has been noted as the most prominent candidate from the Midwest. Klobuchar is running on the platform of unifying the political system, which she believes has become divisive and ineffective.
  • Elizabeth Warren: Warren is a Senator from Massachusetts. As a Senator, she has been on the Committees of Armed Services; Banking, Houses, and Urban Affairs; Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; and Aging. Some of her platforms include Ending Washington Corruption and Rebuilding the Middle Class.
  • Cory Booker: Booker is a Senator from New Jersey. He previously served as the Mayor of Newark. Booker is openly against the War on Drugs and is a self-identified feminist. He is calling for unity among Americans during what he believes is a time of political divide.




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I hope you will join me: corybooker.com

A post shared by Cory Booker (@corybooker) on

We truly have a diverse group of politicians, which is very exciting. Get to know them and better prepare yourself for the 2020 election! 

Photo by David Everett Strickler on Unsplash

Becca Lo Presti is a junior at Hofstra University, where she is pursuing a BA in History with minors in Art History and French. She interns at the Nassau County Museum of Art and is also an on-campus Fellow at the Center for Civic Engagement. Huge fan of podcasts, dislikes the fact that she had to start drinking coffee this semester.