It was a rollercoaster political year unlike any other in modern history with an unprecedented presidential race, a late change at the top of the ticket, a historic guilty verdict, and two assassination attempts.
At times it felt like Americans could not go a day without a bombshell revelation, shocking accusation, or jaw-dropping moment on the national stage.
Now, 2024 is wrapping up with President Joe Biden preparing to leave political office and President-elect Donald Trump readying for a second term after mounting a political comeback for the ages.
From a crowded Republican primary kicking off at the start of the year to Biden’s dramatic exit and a decisive Trump victory on Election Night, it wasn’t a dull 365 days.
DailyMail.com breaks down the biggest U.S. political moments that made headlines around the world this year:
Trump’s political comeback begins with win in Iowa
At the start of 2024, questions swirled over whether Trump would be able to mount the political comeback with his third bid for the White House or if the party was ready to move on.
But he saw a decisive victory in the Iowa caucuses in January. It was the first in a series of state contests that Trump swept at the start of the year on his way to securing the Republican presidential nomination.
After his victory in Iowa, he went on to win all the early GOP primary contests including New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.
After his strong showing in the Super Tuesday primaries in March, his final opponent Nikki Haley dropped out of the race paving the way for Trump to cruise to the nomination.
Trump found guilty in Stormy Daniels hush money case
In May, Trump became the first former president convicted of a crime when a New York jury unanimously found him guilty of falsifying business records.
For weeks Trump sat in the Manhattan criminal court as witnesses were called to testify in the case brought the the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
Trump was accused of falsifying business records to cover up the hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet ahead of the 2016 election about an alleged affair.
Throughout the trial, the jury heard from a series of witnesses that testified toward the salacious and criminal details of the case, from Daniels to Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen. In the end, Trump did not take the stand to testify in his own defense.
The 12 person jury found Trump guilty on all 34 counts, making him the first former president to become a convicted felon.
Hunter Biden found guilty for federal gun crimes
President Biden’s son Hunter was found guilty in Wilmington, Delaware on three felony charges related to the purchase of a gun in 2018 after prosecutors argued he lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form.
The president avoided joining his son in court but first Lady Jill Biden was seen at Hunter’s side as he came and went from court. After the guilty verdict, Biden said he would ‘respect the judicial process’ in a statement. Sentencing was delayed.
In September, the president’s son then pleaded guilty in a separate federal tax case including on three felony counts in in Los Angeles.
For months, the White House insisted Biden would not pardon his son, but on December 1, the president made the bombshell announcement, he had pardoned Hunter only weeks before he is set to leave office.
Biden argued Hunter had been singled out ‘only because he is my son.’
Biden’s disastrous debate against Trump
The first and only 2024 debate between Trump and Biden in Atlanta, Georgia in late June was seen as the catalyst for Biden eventually ending his bid for a second term.
While the president’s team pushed for the debate with Trump, a series of blunders by Biden on the debate stage right out of the gate set off alarms as some were already concerned over his fitness to serve a second term.
One of the starkest moments of the night was when Biden declared ‘we finally beat Medicare’ in a flub seen around the world.
His supporters defended the president, arguing he had one bad night while arguing Trump lied from the debate stage, but the damage was done.
It kicked off a frenzy of calls for Biden to step aside from members of his own party that eventually reached a fever pitch.
Trump narrowly survives two assassination attempts
The country looked on his shock and horror after a would-be assassin shot Trump while he was speaking at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
A bullet grazed the then-presidential nominee’s ear after he had moved his head an instant earlier.
One rally-goer, Corey Comperatore, was killed while two more were injured before the shooter was taken out.
The iconic image of Trump with blood spattering his face surrounded by Secret Service agents raising his fist under an American flag only moments after the shots rang out was viewed around the world.
Trump got to his feet and shouted ‘fight, fight, fight!’ as he was removed from the stage. It became a rallying cry for his supporters throughout the rest of the campaign.
Just days later he appeared with a bandage over his ear at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee where he accepted the GOP nomination.
Two months later in September, another would-be assassin Ryan Routh, 58, was arrested for attempting to kill Trump.
Routh poked the barrel of his rifle through the hedges and gates surrounding Trump’s golf course at his International Club in West Palm Beach.
The then-presidential candidate was playing a round of golf and was a few holes ahead of where Routh was positioned.
But a Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of Routh’s firearm and directed at least six rounds toward the threat.
Routh fled and got into his vehicle, but he was later stopped on the highway after a bystander was able to snap a photo of the car and license plate to give to law enforcement.
Biden drops out of the presidential race
By mid-July the calls for Biden to exit the presidential race had reached a fever pitch as post-debate polls showed him losing to Trump.
On Sunday, July 21, Biden announced he was dropping out of the race and would not seek a second term in the White House in a letter posted on social media less than four months before the election.
‘It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,’ he wrote.
In a separate post on X soon after, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic presidential nominee. Harris responded with a statement praising Biden’s ‘patriotic act’ and vowed to earn the nomination.
Just days later on July 24, Biden gave an address from the Oval Office where he addressed abruptly ending his presidential bid.
Harris accepts the Democratic nomination
Harris made history when she formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination for President of the United States at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 21.
The vice president was the first woman of color to lead a major party presidential ticket.
Her acceptance speech on the final night of the convention came after Harris and her team worked rapidly to secure enough delegates to lock in the nomination in the days after Biden dropped out of the race.
During her address she called for a ‘new way forward’ as she worked to introducer herself to the American people in what would be one of the shortest presidential campaigns in modern history.
The acceptance immediately put her under a microscope as she refused to do a sit down media interview for over a month.
She also went viral for her ‘word salads’ and ‘coconut tree’ memes as she found her footing on the campaign trail.
Trump and Harris clash at their only debate
Harris and Trump had never met in person before they came face-to-face for the first time on the presidential debate stage in Philadelphia on September 10.
During the debate, the two presidential nominees clashed over the economy, immigration, abortion, foreign policy and democracy with less than two months to go before Election Day.
Throughout the showdown, Trump tried to tie Harris to Biden while Harris needled her Republican rival by bringing up his 2020 election loss and rally crowd size.
In one memorable moment from the debate, Harris accused Trump of having ‘a very difficult time processing’ the 2020 election loss.
Trump hit back at Harris that ‘we have a nation that is dying.’
Trump also repeated false claims about migrants in Springfield, Ohio, saying: ‘They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats.’
Elon Musk has his political moment
The world’s richest man Elon Musk actively waded into U.S. politics as the 2024 presidential election heated up.
The tech billionaire actively campaigned for Trump in Pennsylvania and faced criticism for handing out $1 million checks to Americans.
In October, Musk was captured jumping around on stage during Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania after the Republican nominee returned to where he was nearly killed in the July assassination attempt.
Musk also spoke at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in New York City at the end of October. The Trump campaign faced criticism for the event which featured a series of racist and sexist remarks from other speakers.
Recent election filings revealed Musk was the biggest donor in the 2024 U.S. election. He dropped a whopping $277 million to help get Trump elected.
Since the election, he has been a staple at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home as the president-elect puts together his team and will co-head the new administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Trump wins the White House in a landslide
Trump pulled off what has been described as the greatest political comeback off all time won a second term in the White House.
The president-elect was able to sweep all seven battleground states resulting in his securing 312 votes to Harris’ 226 in the Electoral College.
Trump also won the popular vote for the first time, beating the vice president with 49.9 percent and 2.2 million more votes.
He celebrated his victory on Election Night surrounded by family and supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida.
During his early morning speech, Trump declared it a ‘magnificent victory’ and touted the ‘greatest political movement of all time.’
Fani Willis disqualified from her case against Trump
A Georgia appeals court on December 19 ruled Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is disqualified from overseeing the state’s criminal election interference case against Trump.
The decision puts the case in jeopardy after it had a wild year.
Earlier this year, viewers across the country watched eye-popping testimony from the courtroom on live television as lawyers tried to get Willis thrown off the case.
They accused her of impropriety for her romantic relationship with the top prosecutor she picked to lead the case, Nathan Wade.
The judge ruled Willis could stay on the case but only if Wade stepped aside, which he did, but the decision was appealed.
The appeals court ruled Willis and her office could not prosecute the case but did not throw the case out altogether. Willis’ office said it would ask the state’s highest court to weigh in.