On Tuesday evening, the madness will finally come to an end. Americans will cast their vote, and either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will become the next president of the United States (sorry, Gary and Jill). It has been a long campaign, and after being bombarded with television ads and enough junk mail to destroy the Amazon rainforest, many Americans will likely be happy to see it end. But before we turn our attention to 2020, let’s look back on this wild campaign season, which lasted two years but felt like decades.
MARCH 23, 2015: The 2016 presidential campaign begins when Senator Ted Cruz of Texas announces he will run for president. Many more announcements were to come, leading to the largest primary field in the history of American politics. The candidates included:
- Ted Cruz
- Donald Trump
- John Kasich
- Marco Rubio
- Jeb Bush
- Jim Gilmore
- Carly Fiorina
- Chris Christie
- Rand Paul
- Rick Santorum
- Mike Huckabee
- George Pataki
- Lindsey Graham
- Bobby Jindal
- Scott Walker
- Rick Perry
APRIL 12, 2015: Hillary Clinton says she will be running for president, an announcement she had been planning to make since the second she conceded to President Barack Obama in 2008.
JUNE 16, 2015: Donald Trump descends into the presidential race.
His speech was an indication of what was to come. He promised to build a wall on the border and said that Mexican immigrants were “bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
This marked the first time pundits said his campaign was doomed.
AUG. 6, 2015: Almost a year before hosting the Republican National Convention, Cleveland hosts the first primary debate. Nine presidential hopefuls and Mike Huckabee packed the main stage, while the remaining seven Republican candidates appeared earlier that day in a “junior varsity” debate that was probably watched by fewer people than were on stage.
It also marked the beginning of the infamous Trump-Kelly feud.
SEPT. 16, 2015: The second debate, this one at Ronald Reagan’s presidential library in California, was notable for a high five (below) between Trump and Jeb Bush, a reminder of how far this election has come.
OCT. 13, 2015: At the first Democratic debate, Bernie Sanders said Americans were “sick and tired of hearing about (Clinton’s) emails.” Apparently not, because we’re still hearing about them a year later.
NOVEMBER 2015: Ben Carson surges to the top of the polls, probably thanks to this fire track that aired in urban markets. But the former neurosurgeon starts to slip when the public finds claims made in his book and about Ancient Egypt to be questionable, such as Carson’s claim that the pyramids were built to store grain.
NOV. 14: The second Democratic debate is held in Des Moines, Iowa. Clinton defended the donations she received from Wall Street by saying she had to work closely with Wall Street after 9/11. This did not go over well.
DEC. 15: The last Republican primary debate of the year, and also the FIFTH (!) so far. Ben Carson is remembered most for coughing through the debate.
FEB. 1: The presidential race had been going on for about 10 months before anyone even cast a vote, but this day was when things REALLY heated up. Cruz surprisingly beat Trump in Iowa, while Clinton narrowly avoided defeat.
FEB. 3: Poor Jeb. Once the frontrunner, the Republican nominee was reduced to asking the audience for applause. He would drop out a couple weeks later.
FEB. 9: Political outsiders Trump and Sanders win big in New Hampshire. Chris Christie, who was the frontrunner all the way back in 2014, finishes in a disappointing sixth place and is banished to the shadow realm.
MARCH 3: In, by my count, the 800th Republican presidential debate, Trump brings up that Marco Rubio had claimed that Trump had tiny hands.
This was presumably the first time a certain male extremity has been referenced at a presidential debate.
MARCH 15: Ohio votes! John Kasich is spared the embarrassment of losing his home state, as Marco Rubio did, to Donald Trump. Clinton further cements her lead by defeating Sanders, although Sanders wins Athens County by a wide margin to nobody’s surprise.
MAY 3: Trump wins Indiana, making him the presumptive nominee. Cruz drops out, somehow leaving Kasich as the last man standing against Trump, at least until Kasich dropped out hours later.
JULY 5: FBI Director James Comey does not recommend charges against Hillary Clinton over the use of her emails. Democrats commend him while Republicans criticize him.
JULY 19: Melania Trump is accused of lifting sections of Michelle Obama’s speech, as apparently Melania did not run her speech through Turnitin.
JULY 28: The Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Hillary Clinton assumes her final form.
SEPT. 8: With most Americans holding negative views of Clinton and Trump, one would assume that 2016 would be the third parties’ times to shine. But candidates like Libertarian Gary Johnson couldn’t get out of their own way. His inability to identify what Aleppo was suggested that he might have been living out his lax stance on marijuana policy
SEPT. 9: Clinton refers to Trump supporters as a “basket of
SEPT. 26: The first presidential debate between Clinton and Trump was highly anticipated. The country expected the two candidates to really go after each other after doing so on the campaign trail for several months.
What we got instead was a bunch of sniffling and a country still dissatisfied with its presidential choices.
OCT. 7: Leaked materials made this one of the craziest days of the campaign. Wikileaks dumps thousands of emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, while Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women in a tape from 2005.
OCT. 9: The leaked emails and tapes provided plenty of fodder for the second presidential debate, a viewing experience that proved more uncomfortable than that one episode of The Office where Michael Scott promises to pay for a group of students’ college tuition.
Mah gawd, they're lowering the steel cage! #debate pic.twitter.com/dZI6dQAfVj
— Benstonium (@Benstonium) October 10, 2016
The debate also introduced us to Ken Bone, who fascinated the nation and inspired our lamest Halloween costumes.
OCT. 19: Trump adds some drama to the campaign by saying he would “keep you in suspense” over whether he would accept the results of the election. This season finale on Election Day should have record ratings!
OCT. 28: FBI Director James Comey states in a letter that he is re-opening Clinton’s email case over evidence recovered from Anthony Weiner’s computer (hopefully, without any pictures). Republicans commend him while Democrats criticize him.
NOV. 9: Pollsters begin asking voters who they are considering for the 2020 presidential election.
