Former President Donald Trump (R) declared his candidacy for president in the 2024 election in November. Incumbent President Joe Biden (D) has said he plans to make his intentions about running for re-election public after the holidays. As 2023 begins, here’s a look at when presidential candidates declared their candidacies in 2020 and 2016.
In the 2020 cycle, Trump was also the first noteworthy candidate to declare, filing for re-election the day of his inauguration in 2017. Michael Bloomberg (D), the final noteworthy candidate to declare, launched his campaign on November 24, 2019. January and April 2019 tied for the months with the most noteworthy candidate declarations, both at 6.
Biden, the winner of the 2020 presidential election, declared on April 25, 2019, making him the 23rd noteworthy candidate to do so.
We defined noteworthy candidates as individuals who met one or more of the following criteria: previously held office as a member of Congress, governor, state executive, state legislator, or mayor of a city with a population of 100,000 or more, met a polling or fundraising threshold for inclusion in debates, or was set to appear on at least 15 state ballots.
In the 2016 cycle, Ted Cruz (R) was the first noteworthy candidate to declare on March 23, 2015. The final noteworthy declaration came from Lawrence Lessig (D) on September 6, 2015. June 2015 saw the most noteworthy presidential declarations at 6, followed by May 2015 at 5.
Trump, the winner of the 2016 presidential election, declared on June 16, 2015, making him the 16th noteworthy candidate to declare. The Democratic nominee for president, Hillary Clinton (D), declared on April 12, 2015, making her the 3rd noteworthy candidate to declare.
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