The delegates to the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, have officially nominated President Donald Trump (R) for reelection as President of the United States. Votes were cast in person and remotely, and only a limited number of delegates were physically present due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Trump will stand in the November general election against the Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden (D).

Trump has been the presumptive Republican nominee since securing a majority of pledged party convention delegates in March. He faced no serious national competition for the party nomination, and today’s convention vote makes his nomination official. He is joined on the Republican ticket by his running mate, Vice President Mike Pence (R).

Before his election to the presidency, Trump served as the chairman and president of The Trump Organization, a ninety-seven year old conglomerate with interests in—among other things—real estate, investing, and property management. It is composed of more than five hundred subsidiaries, the majority of which are named for Trump. One of those subsidiaries is the television production company that produced The Apprentice for NBC, which starred Trump from 2004 to 2015. Before the 2016 election, Forbes Magazine estimated that Trump’s net worth was about $4.5 billion.

Trump—a brash, center-left outsider who never held elective office before becoming president—has upended many American political norms. On some issues, especially the right to life and self defense rights, he shifted firmly in line with Republican Party orthodoxy during his campaign and presidency. On others—like trade, foreign policy, and scope of government—he remains out of step with many traditional conservatives, especially those who lean libertarian.

In December 2019, Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in connection with an alleged attempt to enlist foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election. He was acquitted by the U.S. Senate in February.

The Republican Party is the last of the three ‘fifty-state’ parties to officially select its presidential and vice presidential nominees. The Libertarian Party selected its nominees at the Libertarian Nominating Convention held online in May. The Democratic Party selected its nominees at the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, last week.

The delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, have officially nominated former Vice President Joe Biden (D) as the Democratic Party candidate for President of the United States. Votes were cast remotely due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Biden will stand in the November general election against the presumptive Republican nominee, President Donald Trump (R).

Biden has been the presumptive Democratic nominee since securing a majority of pledged party convention delegates in June, following a complex primary against twenty-eight other candidates. Today’s convention vote makes Biden’s win official. He is joined on the Democratic ticket by his vice presidential running mate, Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA).

Biden began his career as a law clerk before becoming a public defender and then an attorney in private practice at a firm in Delaware. While practicing law, he also served as a member of the county council of New Castle County, Delaware.

In 1972, Biden was elected to the United States Senate representing the state of Delaware. He was reelected six more times and served in that body until his resignation in 2009. As of this writing, he was the longest-serving senator from Delaware, the eighteenth longest-serving U.S. senator, and the youngest senator to cast over ten thousand votes. Biden unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 2008. From 2009 to 2017, Biden served as Vice President of the United States under President Barack Obama (D).

Biden has a reputation as a down-to-earth politician with middle-class and blue-collar appeal. During his senate career he famously traveled between Delaware and Washington, DC, on Amtrak trains, and his political style harked back to the days when politicians across party aisles had good personal relationships and were willing to seek compromise. He was generally regarded as a moderate, but has shifted significantly to the left along with much of his party in recent years. Even so, many in the party’s socialist wing consider him too centrist.

The Democratic Party is the second of the three ‘fifty-state’ parties to officially select its presidential and vice presidential nominees. The Libertarian Party selected its nominees at the Libertarian Nominating Convention held online in May. The Republican Party is expected to select its nominees at the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, next week.