The 2024 election cycle technically began on November 15, 2022. Donald Trump announced his candidacy at Mar-a-Lago days after a lackluster Republican performance in the midterms. Analysts interpreted this move as a strategy to freeze the GOP field and get ahead of the constant looming Derpartment of Justice investigations. For the next year, the political world watched as a "shadow primary" unfolded. Prominent figures such as Ron DeSantis (Governor of Florida) and Nikki Haley (former Governor of South Carolina and US Ambassador to the United Nations) attempted to position themselves as the future of the Republican Party. Five months later, Joe Biden announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidency. Biden used his "Bidenomics" platform and the defense of democracy as his main talking points. As a result, the race was defined by a deep sense of national polarization and a "rematch fatigue" among the general electorate.

Throughout most of 2023, the news was dominated by Trump's criminal indictments, of which there were four. Accounting for all four indictments, there were 91 total felony counts across multiple jurisdictions. Trump's legal issues served as a massive talking point and fundraising tool for the former president, claiming them to be politically motivated "witch hunts." The Democratic Party remained silent during the primary phase compared to their Republican counterparts. This cleared the path for Joe Biden's nomination despite consistently low and steadly declining approval ratings combined with growing concerns about his age and mental health. Inflation and the high clost of living remianed the primary "kitchen table" issue that Republicans used to attack the Biden administration. Democrats debated the topic of reproductive rights, believing this would be the strongest turnout due to the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court also had an unprecedented amount of influence in this particular election. They ruled that Trump could not be removed from state ballots under the Fourteenth Amendment's insurrection clause, despite several attempts from some states to do so.

By 2023's end, the stage was largely set for a collision between a sitting president defending his record and a former president seeking personal and political vindication. Third-party candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also began to gain attention, which began to signal some need for an alternative to the long-standing two-party system that has dominated American politics since the country's formation. Along with the domestic debate, the recent geopolitical events including Russia and Ukraine's war and the conflict in Gaza added more talking points for both Democrats and Republicans. Most polls suggested a very slim margin, predicting that the victory would be coming down to just a few thousand votes in the Midwest.