This can make Donald Trump, in the 2024 race for the U.S. presidency, achieve a landmark event where he wins a non-consecutive second term as President of the United States. In such a scenario, Trump joined Grover Cleveland as the only two presidents who served their country at different times: Cleveland from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. That would mean that since Cleveland’s feat, this type of record will have taken place 132 years ago.
- Trump does need 270 electoral votes to secure the presidency, and currently, swing states such as Georgia and Pennsylvania show him leading.
- Trump will be the first Republican to have won the popular vote in 20 years. In 2016, he lost the popular vote though he won 304 out of the 538 electoral votes.
- Cleveland, a Democrat, did much the same thing, capturing the popular vote in 1888 but losing the presidency to Benjamin Harrison. Four years later, he regained the office by taking 277 of the 444 electoral votes.
Donald Trump wins Georgia for the 2024 presidential election. pic.twitter.com/ZXVnUfhFuB
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) November 6, 2024
Parallels with Grover Cleveland
From this viewpoint, the historical analogies between Cleveland and Trump are catchy:
- Both men hailed from New York, promising reform as political “outsiders.”
- The challenge that Trump faces now, which is Kamala Harris, marked similarity with Cleveland’s challenges posed by strong opponents like James G. Blaine in 1884.
- While Cleveland won the popular vote consistently, Trump did lose it in 2016, and in fact, he did worse in 2020. That makes him more similar, if anything, to Harrison, who was Cleveland’s electoral foe and had his own share of struggles with popular vote success.
There are still some differences. Cleveland had served at the state level as Governor of New York before he was elected president, while Trump’s political career began with his 2016 campaign. If Trump wins, he will set quite a precedent—a reflection of persistence and a big public mandate for his leadership style.
Also Read: One Nation, One Election
