Who are the candidates running in the US presidential election?

By Costas Pitas, Susan Heavey

(Reuters) -Republican former President Donald Trump will face Vice President Kamala Harris in a Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, with both candidates making their final pitches in battleground states ahead of what is projected to be a tight race.

Several third-party hopefuls are also running. Here are the candidates.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY

KAMALA HARRIS

Harris, 60, won the Democratic Party’s nomination after Biden ended his reelection bid, allowing Democrats to present a renewed American vision in contrast to Trump’s agenda as they seek to revive their coalition of young voters, people of color and suburban women.

A former U.S. senator, California attorney general and San Francisco prosecutor, Harris became the first woman and person of color to serve as vice president after Biden selected her as his 2020 running mate. She would become the first woman to serve as president in the nation’s 248-year history if she wins.

Opinion polls show Harris is in a close race against Trump. She leads the former president nationally 44% to 43%, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Oct. 29.

Other surveys show Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, in tight races among the seven battleground states that could decide the election: Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan and Nevada.

During the final weeks of the campaign, Harris has renewed efforts to paint Trump as a threat to democracy after he made ominous comments about “the enemy within” the United States and threatened to deploy the military domestically. She also agreed with the assessment by Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, that her opponent is a fascist, a characterization Trump and his allies rejected.

Harris has made reproductive rights and personal freedoms a rallying cry and backs a national law codifying access to safe abortion.

Her economic plans include tax cuts for most Americans, bans on price gouging, more affordable housing and a new child tax credit as well as efforts to boost domestic manufacturing. She proposed increasing the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% and ending taxes on tips.

She has promised tougher immigration and fentanyl controls at the border. Her climate and energy positions are similar to those held by Biden, who made fighting climate change a top priority.

Harris has been seen as tech-friendly even as she took on alleged anticompetition and privacy issues, and she has sought to reassure donors that she backs capitalism.

On foreign policy, Harris is expected to stick largely to Biden’s playbook on key issues such as Ukraine, China and Iran. She has also pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a Gaza ceasefire deal but has also taken a hard line against Hamas, saying the militant group must be “eliminated,” and remains committed to the U.S. policy of arming Israel.

Key labor groups, including the Service Employees International Union, the United Auto Workers and the American Federation of Teachers, endorsed her. Former U.S. military officials, company executives and numerous former top Republican officials have also backed her. 

REPUBLICAN PARTY

DONALD TRUMP 

Trump, 78, secured the Republican nomination in July to make his third consecutive run for the White House after losing his 2020 reelection bid. 

Trump continues to repeat his false claim that Democrats stole the 2020 election as he campaigns amid unprecedented legal challenges, including a fresh U.S. indictment over efforts to subvert his loss to Biden.

In office from 2017 to 2021, he has cast his indictments in four criminal cases as a political attack, vowing “retribution” against perceived enemies and embracing increasingly dystopian rhetoric. 

Trump became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime in May, in New York City. He was also the first president to be impeached twice. He denies any wrongdoing.

Trump, who chose U.S. Senator JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate, has refused to commit to accepting the 2024 results or to rule out possible political violence, while he and Republicans lay the groundwork to contest a potential loss. His false claims about voter fraud in battleground Pennsylvania have raised concerns that he could again try to overturn election results if he loses.

Trump has also promised to pardon supporters imprisoned for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and threatened to prosecute election officials, donors, Google and others if he wins. 

He said he would not run again if he loses.

Trump is the oldest U.S. presidential nominee and would become the nation’s second oldest president. He faced two assassination attempts, one at a Pennsylvania campaign rally in July and another one in September near one of his Florida golf courses.

Trump-friendly think tanks’ sweeping “Project 2025” policy agenda would target the Justice Department’s independence, among other plans. Trump has sought to distance himself from the project despite his former aides’ and Vance’s involvement. He also wants the power to replace federal civil service workers with loyalists.

On foreign policy, Trump has vowed to fundamentally alter the U.S. relationship with NATO and to resolve the Ukraine war with possible peace talks that might require Kyiv to cede territory. He has said Hamas must be “crushed” and vowed to be tougher on Iran, but has given few details or policy proposals.

Trump has made immigration a top issue, promising mass deportations, including legal Haitian immigrants given Temporary Protected Status in Springfield, Ohio. He would end birthright citizenship and expand a travel ban on people from certain countries.

He takes credit for the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade protections, saying abortion laws should be left to the states. Trump said he does not support banning birth control.

On the economy, Trump would impose sweeping tariffs on imported goods and on specific companies and countries. He pledged to end taxes on tips and overtime, to make emergency generators tax-deductible in states hit by natural disasters, to lower corporate tax rates and to open federal lands to foreign companies and housing. He has also vowed to undo much of Biden’s climate change work.

Trump has faced criticism, including from some Republicans, for personal attacks against Harris, including over her race and gender.

Trump appointed former Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to his transition team and said he would tap billionaire supporter Elon Musk to address government efficiency.

The National Fraternal Order of Police and other police groups have also backed his election bid.

THIRD PARTIES & INDEPENDENTS

LIBERTARIAN PARTY

CHASE OLIVER

While the Libertarian Party invited Trump to its convention, it ultimately selected Oliver, 39. Oliver ran for a Georgia state Senate seat in 2022 and garnered 2% of the vote.

GREEN PARTY

JILL STEIN

Stein, 74, a physician who ran under the Green Party in 2016, is running again in 2024.

She launched her current campaign accusing Democrats of betraying their promises “for working people, youth and the climate again and again – while Republicans don’t even make such promises in the first place.” 

INDEPENDENT

CORNEL WEST

The political activist, philosopher and academic is making a bid to attract more progressive, Democratic-leaning voters.

West, 71, initially ran as a Green Party candidate but in October said people “want good policies over partisan politics” and declared himself an independent. He has promised to end poverty and guarantee housing.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas and Susan Heavey; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis)