US election 2024 timeline: All the key campaign dates
The 2024 presidential campaign is up and running after the drama of the party primaries.
Donald Trump is the presumed nominee for the Republican party, after seeing off his last remaining rival Nikki Haley and clinching the nomination with resounding wins in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington.
On the other side of the ring, Joe Biden secured the Democratic nomination after a mostly uncontested primary campaign that saw the president capture almost all votes cast.
Nationally, polls are predicting a close rematch between Mr Trump and Mr Biden, in a presidential race that would stand to be one of the most historically significant the country has seen.
The candidates were scheduled to debate each other twice, bookending both parties’ national conventions in the summer.
Mr Biden’s stumbling performance at the first debate on June 27 was a disaster for his campaign and caused panic among Democrats.
In the aftermath, the president’s advisers defied calls for the him to drop out of the race and said he would debate Mr Trump again in September as planned.
President Biden initially laid down the gauntlet in a confrontational video in May, challenging Mr Trump to: “Make my day, pal.”– but only on the condition that there would be no live audience.
The next debate will take place just before states with the longest in-person polling periods open for early voting in mid-September.
But, the 2024 timetable is also complicated by the blizzard of litigation faced by Mr Trump, who has had to juggle campaigning with a series of court appearances.
Earlier this month, the former president was convicted on all 34 charges of falsifying business records in the first of four separate criminal cases he is facing.
Mr Trump’s conviction in New York has plunged the US into uncharted legal territory and has threatened to overshadow the height of the election campaign.
The dates for the remaining three trials have been rearranged multiple times and it is possible that some or all of them will not have started by election day in November.
Here The Telegraph gives you a comprehensive overview of all the key dates coming up.
June
The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision on Trump’s immunity claim by the end of the month.
July 11
Donald Trump will be sentenced at Manhattan Criminal Court for 34 counts of falsifying business records.
July 15-18
The Republican National Convention takes place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Republican presidential candidate will officially be announced.
August 19-22
The Democratic National Convention takes place in Chicago.
September 10
Second presidential debate takes place, this time hosted by ABC News. Joe Biden and Donald Trump will go head to head unless any other candidates, namely Robert F. Kennedy Jr., meet the minimum threshold of 15% in four national polls.
September 20
Early in-person voting opens in Minnesota, South Dakota and Virginia. In the weeks that follow, the window will open in all but a handful of states that do not offer early in-person voting.
November 5
Election day.
December 10
The Safe Harbour Deadline – when states have to settle any disputes over who is sent to the Electoral College, the body that formally casts the votes to decide the outcome of the election.
December 16
Electors meet in their state capitals to formally cast their votes for the Electoral College.
January 6
The formal counting of votes in the Electoral College takes place at a joint session of Congress.
Following the 2020 census, Texas gained two electoral votes while Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon each gained one.
California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia each lost one.
It will be the first formal counting of the votes on Jan 6 since the 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Jan 20
Inauguration Day. The president-elect will be sworn into office.
