Pre-2016: political contributions and party shifts

Before becoming a candidate, Trump's political identity was inconsistent. He donated to candidates from both parties across decades, including the Clintons, Charles Schumer, and other Democrats in the 1990s and 2000s, before shifting to Republican giving in the 2010s [1, 2].

His party registration shifted multiple times: Democrat (1987), Republican (1987), Independence Party (1999), Democrat again (2001), Republican again (2009), unaffiliated (2011), and Republican again from 2012 to present [1].

He briefly considered presidential runs in 1988, 2000 (as a Reform Party candidate), and 2012 before launching his successful 2016 campaign.

2016 campaign

Trump announced his Republican primary campaign on June 16, 2015, at Trump Tower in Manhattan [3]. Through the 2016 primaries, he defeated 16 other Republican candidates including Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, Governors Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Chris Christie, and former Secretary of State Ben Carson [4].

He accepted the Republican nomination on July 21, 2016 with running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence [4]. The pairing balanced Trump's outsider New York real-estate brand with Pence's evangelical and Washington-insider credentials.

In the general election, Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton on November 8, 2016, winning 304 electoral votes to Clinton's 227 despite losing the popular vote by approximately 2.87 million votes [4]. His path ran through three Rust Belt states (Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin) that had voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1992.

Key coalition members included evangelical Christians (with leaders like Jerry Falwell Jr. providing early endorsements), populist conservatives, working-class white voters in industrial states, and a coalition rallied around immigration and trade issues.

2017 to 2021: first-term political relationships

Major first-term political allies included Vice President Pence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan (and later Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise in leadership roles), Attorney General Jeff Sessions (later replaced by William Barr), and a rotating cast of senior advisors including Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller, Hope Hicks, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner [1, 4].

Notable adversarial relationships included the conservative establishment figures who had opposed him in the 2016 primary (most reconciled after the primary), Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who led the two impeachments), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and his eventual 2020 opponent Joe Biden, then a former vice president [4].

His relationship with Pence ended publicly on January 6, 2021, when Pence presided over the certification of Joe Biden's election despite Trump's public pressure on Pence to reject the electoral votes [5].

2020 election

Trump was renominated by the Republican Party for the 2020 campaign, again with Pence as running mate. His opponent was former Vice President Joe Biden, who had defeated a large Democratic primary field. The campaign was conducted largely during the COVID-19 pandemic, with public health considerations limiting traditional rally formats [4].

On November 3, 2020, Biden defeated Trump by 306 electoral votes to 232, and by more than 7 million votes in the popular vote [4]. Trump did not concede and made repeated public claims that the election had been stolen, claims that were rejected in dozens of state and federal court cases and by his own Justice Department officials [5].

The post-election period culminated in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol while Congress was certifying the electoral college vote. Five people died in connection with the attack, and more than 140 police officers were injured [5]. Trump was impeached for the second time on January 13, 2021 on a charge of "incitement of insurrection," and was acquitted by the Senate on February 13, 2021 in a 57-43 vote, ten votes short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction [5].

2021 to 2024: political wilderness and return

After leaving office in January 2021, Trump moved to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida and maintained an active political presence through Truth Social posts, Republican primary endorsements, and gradual reentry into the speaking and campaign circuit.

He announced his 2024 presidential campaign on November 15, 2022, at Mar-a-Lago [4]. Between March 2023 and August 2023, he was indicted in four separate criminal cases (Manhattan hush money, federal classified documents, federal January 6, and Georgia state racketeering), an unprecedented event for a former U.S. president and major-party nominee [4, 6].

On May 30, 2024, a Manhattan jury found him guilty on all 34 counts in the New York case, making him the first former U.S. president convicted of a felony [7]. The verdict did not prevent him from continuing to campaign and reportedly helped fundraise tens of millions of dollars from supporters within 24 hours of the verdict [7].

On July 13, 2024, Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a gunman fired multiple shots and grazed his ear. One rally attendee was killed and two others injured [4].

Two days later, Trump named JD Vance, the junior senator from Ohio and author of Hillbilly Elegy, as his running mate on July 15, 2024 [8]. The choice was framed as appealing to working-class voters in Rust Belt states.

A second assassination attempt occurred on September 15, 2024, at Trump's golf course in West Palm Beach, with the would-be attacker apprehended before firing [4].

2024 campaign

Trump won the Republican primary in 2024 against a field that included Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, and others. DeSantis suspended his campaign in January 2024; Haley continued through Super Tuesday before withdrawing.

The general election against Vice President Kamala Harris (who replaced Biden as the Democratic nominee on July 21, 2024, after Biden's withdrawal) was held on November 5, 2024. Trump swept all seven battleground states, won the popular vote (the first Republican to do so since 2004), and won 312 electoral college votes to Harris's 226 [9, 10].

Trump received 71,271,787 votes (50.6 percent) to Harris's 66,341,752 (48.3 percent) per CNN's final tabulation [11].

Key 2024 coalition members included:

The traditional Republican base.

A larger-than-historic share of Black, Latino, and Asian American voters.

Young men in particular, including via podcast appearances on shows like Joe Rogan's, Theo Von's, and Andrew Schulz's Flagrant [12].

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his independent campaign in August 2024 and endorsed Trump.

Elon Musk, who became a major financial backer and surrogate.

Second-term coalition

Trump's second-term cabinet and senior staff included JD Vance as Vice President, Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, Pam Bondi as Attorney General, Susie Wiles as White House Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, Russ Vought as OMB Director, and Elon Musk as the initial leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), though Musk's role evolved through the year [4].

Notable relationships in the second term have included a public feud with Musk in mid-2025 over DOGE-related issues and policy disagreements, Trump's endorsement of Andrew Cuomo (independent) in the November 2025 NYC mayoral race against Zohran Mamdani [13], and a complex relationship with Republican governors and members of Congress over specific tariff and immigration policies that drew local opposition.

Term limit and 2028

Per the 22nd Amendment, Trump cannot run again for president after his second term expires on January 20, 2029. His current term is his second and constitutionally final term.