President Trump and Grover Cleveland: How Presidents Returned to the White House

On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris was defeated by President-elect Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race for the White House.

Trump will take office for a second time in January.

Only two other presidential candidates in history, besides Grover Cleveland, have won the presidency non-consecutively: the 22nd and 24th U.S. president.

According to WhiteHouse.gov., Cleveland was raised in New York despite being born into a large family of nine children in New Jersey.

According to WhiteHouse.gov, the former president studied law and became a lawyer before becoming the mayor of Buffalo in 1881.

In 1884, Cleveland was elected as the Democrat U.S. presidential candidate while serving as the governor of New York. He was the first Democrat to win the presidency after the Civil War, defeating his Republican opponent, Sen. James G. Blaine of Maine.

According to NPR, he was criticized during his first term for vetoing private pension bills for Civil War veterans.

During his first term, a bill to give Texas farmers $10,000 in federal funds for seed grain was presented, but he rejected it, according to the New York Post.

Cleveland advocated for Congress to lower high protective tariffs during the Civil War and signed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887, which established federal regulation of an industry for the first time through its regulation of railroads, according to both the Associated Press and NPR.

Cleveland is the only president to have been married within the White House during his first term in office, with Frances Folsom, who was 21 at the time, becoming the first lady.

Cleveland, four years after being elected president, ran for re-election against Harrison, a Republican, but lost his bid to regain the presidency.

Although Cleveland received more votes nationwide, he still lost the election to his Republican opponent.

Troy Senik, a presidential historian, told History.com that the candidate started the race without a campaign manager, delegated most of the electioneering responsibilities to his running mate, Allen Thurman, who was 74 years old and not healthy enough to handle the rigors of campaigning, and based the entire race on his proposal to reduce tariffs, which divided his own Democratic Party and united the Republicans in opposition.

In 1892, Cleveland won the rematch against Harrison, becoming the first president to be elected for a non-consecutive term.

Trump was the first president since Cleveland to achieve a similar distinction.

In 2016, Trump won the presidency by defeating his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, in the electoral vote, despite losing the popular vote.

Trump's success is rooted in his background as a businessman in real estate development, rather than politics.

In January 2017, Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States after being elected on November 8, 2016, and accepting the Republican nomination for president in July 2016.

In his first term, he implemented policies such as tax reductions, energy self-sufficiency, military enlargement, enhanced care for veteran health, and safeguarding the southern frontier.

During his first term, Trump appointed three U.S. Supreme Court judges and created the Space Force, the first new armed service since 1947, according to the U.S. Department of Defense’s website.

In the 2020 presidential election, Trump was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump announced his third run for office two years after being removed from the presidency.

In July 2024, Biden ended his re-election bid and endorsed Harris as the Democrat nominee, marking the end of his campaign against Trump.

Trump emerged victorious in the 2024 presidential election, securing his position as the 45th and 47th U.S. president.

"Trump thanked the American people in an early morning address on Wednesday after the election results, stating that the movement was like nothing seen before and the greatest political movement of all time."

"I am grateful to the American people for electing me as their 47th president. I promise to fight for every citizen, their families, and their futures. I will do this every day and with every breath in my body until we achieve a strong, safe, and prosperous America for our children and ourselves."