By ABBY TYSON

With the beginning of 2019, it is impossible to ignore the election for president that looms over United States citizens in the quickly approaching 2020 year. With thoughts of procrastination behind, various qualified members of parties across the nation have announced that they will, indeed, be running to represent their party in the upcoming election. We bring to you various candidates that have grown popular after their announcements and those who the public believes will run, along with what they hope to accomplish and what makes them qualified to run for president. All of these, and more, can be found on BallotPedia with more information.

Republican

Donald Trump (72), current President of the United States, filed to re-run for president the day of his inauguration on January 20, 2017. Prior to the election, he has been known for his involvement within America’s business sector. Some of the notable policies of his presidency so far have involved the ban of transgender people from serving in the military, a lengthy government shutdown that has caused an uproar within citizens who had gone weeks without a paycheck, his desire to limit the amount of illegal immigrants from coming into the country by putting money into border control, along with also signing a bill that also victims of online sex trafficking to take legal actions against the websites harboring these crimes. According to USA Today, Donald Trump has also created millions of new jobs and brought the rate of unemployment down to 3.9 percent, the lowest since 2000.

William Weld (73), as according to New York Times, is the only other opponent to Donald Trump who officially declared that he was running. As a former governor of Massachusetts and a former federal prosecutor, he ran under the vice presidential spot under the Libertarian party in the 2016 election. Some of his main issues that he would like to address regards enforcing fiscal restraint, free trade and moderate immigration reform, along with legalizing marijuana across all fifty states. He provides a voice for mainstream conservatives along with a majority of moderates.

Democrat

Elizabeth Warren (69), a US Senate member from Massachusetts had announced on December 31, 2018 that she had formed an exploratory committee, meaning that she has officially decided to run for president in the 2020 primaries to represent the Democratic Party. Her signature issues involve income inequality and also the issue of the middle class apparently being ‘attacked’ by big corporations and political corruption.

Kamala Harris (54), Senator from California; former attorney general of California; former San Francisco district attorney. She was one of the few Democrats to join the Senate after the 2016 presidential election, and she has been noted for addressing President Trump’s cabinet nominees and his Supreme Court nominee rather toughly. Senator Harris had previously unveiled the middle-class tax cut legislation last fall and has successfully pursued a liberal civil rights agenda in the Senate since then.

Cory Booker (49), a US Senator from New Jersey and former mayor of Newark, and is considered one of the best possible orators that could have announced that they were running for the 2020 election. He announced on February 1 of this year that he would be running in the primaries to hopefully then run for president. He has been known to advocate for criminal justice reform within the Senate and, just like Obama in 2008, he plans to make calls to unify the country during his campaign.

Tulsi Gabbard (37) is a congresswoman from Hawaii and a Hawaii Army National Guard veteran. She announced on January 11 that she was planning to run in the primary against her fellow Democrats. During the 2016 election, she was a heavy supporter of Bernie Sanders, and one of her main issues she plans to run on is an opposition to American military intervention overseas, especially within countries like Syria. Yet, it is important to note that, in the past, she was involved with an anti-gay advocacy group, which will for certain affect her chance of winning the primary.

Julián Castro (44), former housing secretary and former mayor of San Antonio, Texas, decided on January 12 of this year that he would be running for the Democratic Party nomination when it comes to the primaries. Once a popular, political figure, Castro has been struggled to find a place in the Trump administration. He has been known to focus on issues regarding universal prekindergarten, “medicare for all”, and immigration reform.

Independent

Howard Schultz (64), the CEO if Starbucks, has decided to run as an independent in the 2020 election, both opposed to Trump’s politics as well as what he considers as the ‘leftist’ side of the political spectrum. His plan to ‘rebel’ against what Trump has made of the Republican party and what has been made of the Democrat party, he hopes to pull in those supporters that may be considered more moderate. He has declared that the last election redefined the parties and have, thus, created a split. As a more conservative himself, he plans to extend healthcare opportunities as well as educational opportunities to workers, along with more opportunities for veterans and refugees. He also claims that we, as Americans, should be in the business of ‘building bridges, not walls’, and believes that the immigration system needs to be addressed in a way that does not, indeed, involve a wall, but rather deals with the people who have had their visas expired while staying in the United States.

Bernie Sanders (77) is a senator from Vermont and a former congressman. As many already know, he was a runner-up in the 2016 election as the Democratic nominee, only second to Hillary Clinton. He describes himself as a “democratic socialist” and his main issues that he would like to address regard “Medicare for all,” free college tuition to all students, along with the addressment of the power that the rich hold in our country’s politics and society.

Libertarian

Daniel Behrman (66) is known for his saying, “Taxation is Theft.” His ideals regarding politics revolve around the fact that the government was, as he says, created by the people and for the people, and should thus exist to serve the people, not have the people serve the government. He hopes to eliminate income taxes and the IRS, freeing healthcare from any government restrictions, terminating the national debt, and also allowing people to do whatever, whenever to their bodies.

Green Party

Ian Schlakman (35) has previously run for the Governor of Maryland and shows great potential for running for the 2020 election as a member of the Green Party. He focuses on expanding social services and improving public safety by addressing the homeless population as well as putting more funding towards preventing hate crimes. Furthermore, he wants to increase minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour and encourage the creation of more green jobs by expanding public transit.