Election 2024: Can Trump run again after losing to Joe Biden in 2020?

Chantal da Silva
(Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
(Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

President Donald Trump has failed to win his re-election bid against Democratic challenger Joe Biden - but it may not be the definitive end of his time in power.

On 7 Nov, Mr Biden won the key swing state of Pennsylvania, propelling the Democrat to the White House by granting him the 270 electoral college votes needed.

Under the US Constitution, however, even though Trump has lost the election, he could still pursue the Oval Office again in 2024.

The 22nd Amendment states that: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice".

That requirement, however, does not provide a time frame for when those two terms must be held.

Speaking to the Today programme on Thursday, former Trump advisor Bryan Lanza said he believed the president would be in a “good position” to run again in four years’ time.

“Everybody thought this was going to be a blowout election,” Mr Lanza said. “We were talking about a double-digit lead, we were talking about an Electoral College landslide and we're far from that.”

“If I'm advising the President and, occasionally, we have conversations I would say to him, ‘Sir, you are in a good position right now, if you come up short, to run again in four years’,” he continued.

However, he said, if Trump does want to run it is important that he is careful on his “way out” to make sure that he does not “damage a potential race four years from now".

Mr Lanza is not the first former Trump advisor to suggest that Trump could run again in 2024, with Steve Bannon making similar comments last month.

Even if the president failed to win a second term, Mr Bannon said: “You’re not going to see the end of Donald Trump.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham also encouraged Mr Trump to run again to “keep his movement alive."

Two of Mr Trump’s former aides - Rick Gaetz and Mick Mulvaney - said they would not be surprised to see Mr Trump on the 2024 ticket.

Even Mr Trump is considering a run, according to a anonymous sources speaking with Axios. Mr Trump has not publicly commented on the potential for a 2024 run.

If Trump does attempt to run again, he would not be the first US president to do so, with President Grover Cleveland making a successful second election bid in 1892.

Cleveland became the 22nd president of the US in 1884, but was defeated in his re-election bid against Republican rival Benjamin Harrison.

In 1892, Cleveland made a comeback and became the 24th president as well.

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