As I sat cross-legged on the couch, the glow of my laptop blended with the flickering reds and blues of the TV screen, casting shadows over the physics lab I was desperately trying to concentrate on. Every five minutes, like clockwork, my eyes darted upward searching the electoral map for answers I could not find in Newton's laws. As the minutes turned into hours, the tension in the room became palpable, each state’s results fueling my late-night study session. This was no ordinary night–it was a defining moment for the country. The 2024 presidential election, fraught with unprecedented stakes and ideological shifts, reflected a nation at crossroads. I, like millions of others, sat on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what would happen next. 

In the five presidential elections that I have experienced in my lifetime, the 2024 presidential election was by far the most exhilarating to watch. Perhaps I feel this way because I am in the ripe phase of political socialization (thanks AP Gov), or perhaps this election felt like a culmination of months of fierce campaigning, polarizing rhetoric, and shifting allegiances. Just in late July, President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement. The announcement sent shockwaves through both parties, sending Harris to quickly pick up her new role in the election, and President Donald Trump to adapt to his new opponent. 

In the aftermath of election night,the most intriguing to look at was the dramatic realignment of the political landscape. One of the most striking trends in the election was Trump and the Republican Party’s surprising gains among minority voters, particularly in urban and historically Democratic strongholds like New York. Traditionally, the Democratic Party held a majority of the minority support. In 2020, Biden received the support of 92% of Black voters, nearly securing the same numbers as Hilary Clinton in 2016, and took a 59% majority of Hispanic votes. However, the reshaping of the Republican coalition in the 2024 elections raised eyebrows. Nowhere was this transformation more evident than in the Bronx, one of the most Democratic-leading counties in the country for years. Trump’s rally in the Bronx in late May was not significant because of what he said or did but because of who showed up. It was considered one of the most diverse rallies in his entire political career, resulting in him winning more than 27% of the vote in the Bronx, shrinking his margin of defeat there significantly (NBC News). 

The most dramatic shift among voters in this presidential election was among Latinos. In a survey conducted by Association Press, Trump won 43% of the overall Latino vote, an eight-point increase from 2020. So what happened? In a PBS interview, Pastor Samuel Rodriguez, the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, explains that this election was the official breakup of the Latino community with the Democratic party. According to him, the primary reason for this breakup has to do with faith, with more Latinos becoming more conservative as they become more evangelical every year. But it wasn’t just faith. Rodriguez pointed to dissatisfaction with Democratic policies on immigration and family issues. He noted that many Latinos felt strongly about the importance of legal immigration, opposing what they saw as leniency towards illegal immigration in the Biden administration. Furthermore, government policies centering around education, COVID-19 mandates, and gender issues were seen as overreaching or interfering in matters of family and personal values. The Latino traditional values of faith and familia became tied to some of these key concerns which ultimately resulted in a significant realignment towards the Republican party (PBS). 

With election night a month behind us, it is definitive that Donald Trump will once again assume the role of President of the United States. Yet, what continues to astonish many, including me, is how the electoral map shifted in ways that seemed unthinkable before 2024. The political landscape, once divided by predictable lines, has been redrawn, with communities realigning and historical assumptions of voter loyalty shattered. From the urban boroughs like the Bronx to the reddest areas of the nation, the 2024 election told a story of frustration, new-found hope, and redefinition. One thing remains clear: a new political era is emerging and the traditional divides of reds and blues of America are giving way to a more complex, ideologically diverse landscape. 

Information retrieved from NBC News, PBS News