By Braeden Pelton
Welcome back to another presidential election year. As with any big election year, the primary election will determine which candidates the public wants on the ballot for the November presidential election. While no one is elected president in the primary election, now’s the time to cast your vote and get who you want to be president on the final ballot.
The Michigan primary is being held Tuesday, Feb. 27 but that isn’t the case for other states. According to the U.S. Vote Foundation, many states don’t vote until March for their primaries, with the majority of them being held between then and May, some even later. As soon as each state’s votes are tallied, the candidates will be announced and placed on the presidential ballot for Tue, Nov. 5.
As for who’s on the ballot, the public has seen many big names drop out of the race over the last couple of months like Ron Desantis and Vivek Ramaswamy, leaving only a handful of people left fighting. The Republican party has two people currently running. They are former president Donald Trump, along with former South Dakota Governor Nikki Haley. Meanwhile, the Democrats have President Joe Biden and Representative Dean Phillips.
Republican Party Candidates:
Starting with Haley, she has stated that her goals are to follow through on unfulfilled promises from former President Trump’s term. Haley describes herself on her website as a strong protective leader, ready to step on for her country. Her site states, “Gov. Haley stood in the gap time and again and held our state together. Whether it was a 1,000-year flood, a mass shooting, economic turmoil or South Carolina’s domestic violence surge, Haley led with moral clarity and compassion.”
Haley is looking forward to her potential time in office with goals such as mending the United States immigration system by being more humane while still using discretion when letting in immigrants. She also wants to work on reducing taxes including eliminating corporate income taxes, and lowering costs for current retirees while raising the retirement age for those entering the job market.
Not much has changed stance-wise for Trump since his loss in 2020. Trump’s campaign is still heavily reliant on their “Drain the Swamp” objective in Washington. Despite Trump receiving several indictments, including 91 felony charges, his campaign crew is not backing down from the backlash In fact, they’re embracing it.
Instead of completely abolishing problematic systems, Trump aims to continue their use in new ways, such as responsibly using fossil fuels, with his website boasting of that the U.S. was the number one producer of oil and natural gas during his previous term. Other goals include expanding medicare options, eliminating the last of the Covid-19 mandates, removing the censorship of free speech and pushing for parental rights in education. Of course, Trump still believes in strong, secure borders
Democratic Party Candidates:
President Biden is no stranger to the public. As a former vice president and current president, his policies and behaviors are very fresh in the minds of the public. While he hasn’t gone through with all of his initial campaign plans, his administration has accomplished several positive changes in fields like public health. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has commended his efforts in the pharmaceutical industry requiring direct labels for addictive substances, bringing awareness to our country’s addiction issues, and sending money and legislation to prevent addiction, among other public health benefits. That being said, President Biden has received backlash for the initial failure of the student debt relief plan and for his handling of the humanitarian crisis between Israel and Palestine. Some of this may be relieved now as Biden has now been able to relieve $1.2 billion in student loan debt. While It doesn’t go nearly as far as the $400 he planned to aid with, it’s still a significant sum.
The anticipated achievements and plans for a second term are mostly topics he’s brought up before. Under a second term, Biden’s administration wants to continue to work on switching to renewable sources of energy with whitehouse.gov stating: “The President is mobilizing a whole-of-government effort to reduce climate pollution in every sector of the economy and increase resilience to climate impacts.” The plan, according to the site, is to reach zero emissions by 2050. Other key points include making affordable healthcare more accessible, continued efforts to achieve true race equality and restoring strength to the American economy. Additionally, according to an article from the Associated Press, continuing aid on military fronts in Ukraine and Israel.
Lastly is Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips, the only remaining competitor against Biden for the Democratic candidate position. Congressman Phillips is known as a more moderate candidate, cosponsoring multiple bipartisan bills on the House floor according to congress.gov. Other notable accomplishments include his time on the Small Business, and Foreign Affairs committees, along with his work for inclusion during his service on the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus.
If given the opportunity in the presidential seat, Phillips plans to focus on matters of public safety and reform. Of all of his page’s listed policies, the majority of them follow social and institutional change. His list includes first responder funding, gun reform, equity and restorative justice and environmental preservation. Phillips is a longstanding advocate for true equality and equity among American citizens, sitting on multiple committees and caucuses for social change.
In some states, independent candidates may be on the primary ballots. Michigan is not one of them, none of the independents made it onto the ballot.
Voters can also choose to vote uncommitted on their ballots for the primary. Going this route simply means you’re voting for a party but not a particular candidate. If enough votes are gathered as uncommitted, the delegates can go to the national nominating convention not committed to a specific candidate in their given party.
As for voting, if you do not know where to vote, please visit the Michigan Secretary of State page to learn more and find your polling location. The site features information on how to vote in person, absentee and even early. For more information on the candidates and your ballot, check Ballotpedia or click on any of the candidate links posted above. Happy voting, everyone!
