By Adriana Elias, Courier News Editor
The presidential election of 2016 has proved to be one of the most interesting and, in some ways, controversial of all time.
Although this
election will be referred to as the presidential race of 2016, the race actually began earlier than that in 2015 when all of the candidates announced their decision to run for president.
One of the first to announce his running was Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican who shared some views with the now Republican nominee, Donald Trump. Cruz dropped out of the race in May 2016 due to a loss at the Indiana Primary that he said would determine his fate in this presidential race.
The next big name to announce their decision to run was Hillary Clinton. Clinton has been criticized throughout this election due to an email scandal which opened up in 2015 shortly before she took her position in the presidential race. This email scandal was investigated by the FBI and Clinton was cleared. Many voters still felt uncomfortable with the scandal and it made it hard for them to trust Clinton, let alone support her as the next President of the United States. The case was reopened once again by the FBI only 11 days before the election took place. Clinton was cleared once again but this definitely messed with her campaign and made people rethink their voting stance. Although Clinton made some questionable choices, her arguments proved to be firm and clear and this earned her a spot as the Democratic nominee and the main contender against Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
Another favorite among many, especially voters on the younger side, was Democrat Bernie Sanders. Announcing his decision to run in April 2015, Sanders was neck in neck with Hillary for the majority of his running time. Sanders won over many people with how progressive he was and how much he wanted to help the younger generation. Sanders was beat by Clinton during the democratic primary but it would be false to say that he didn’t make a lasting impression on many Americans.
One of the last to announce his presidential running was Republican, Donald Trump. It came as a shock to many to see this successful businessman emerging himself into this presidential election. Trump began ahead of all his opponents and remained that way until becoming the main Republican nominee. Trump’s views have proven to be controversial to many. Yes, while Trumps values and morals are a bit extravagant to some, he has negotiated his way through this election and persuaded people to follow him and support him. Because of his strong business background and his experience with finances, Trump is looked at as someone who can help our country with the tremendous amount of debt that has been built up throughout the years. He and Hillary Clinton were neck in neck through the whole race sometimes leading over each other in states with a gap as small as 0.2%.
As the election drew towards the end polls were filled with voters anticipating to mark down their decisions. Clinton and Trump were fighting for the win throughout the day of November 8th. The election became a nail biter for both parties around 8 PM on Tuesday night when the electoral votes only were so incredibly close and inching up by the second. Contrary to the previous belief that Hillary would for sure win this presidential election, Donald Trump took the title on Tuesday night. The response to this announcement was mixed. Some people are happy and others not so much. This elections was truly a voting revolution because of how much it has mixed up the way the government has been for the past 8 years. CNN political commentator, Van Jones, described this as a white lash to the progress that our country has made. This election will go down in history as one of the most engaging yet.