For the 2020 presidential election, the King Street Chronicle will introduce the candidates from both the Republican and Democratic parties.  In the third volume, we cover the three Republican candidates.

President Donald Trump, Republican

Inaugurated January 20, 2017, President Donald Trump is the current President of the United States of America.  From Queens, New York, President Trump was previously a businessman and television personality.  President Trump received 304 electoral college votes, as opposed to the 227 votes Mrs. Hillary Clinton received in the 2016 presidential election.  The latest poll from The Washington Post and ABC News reports that 44 percent of American adults approve of President Trump’s overall performance in his job, even whilst under impeachment, and 56 percent approve of his handling of the United States economy, according to The Washington Post.

His main legislative accomplishment as the 45th President of the United States was a sweeping tax cut that promised to benefit the middle class but mainly benefitted wealthy investors and corporations, according to The New York Times. 

His focuses of this term have been to undo the policies of former President Barack Obama’s administration, many of which pertain to healthcare, immigration, and environmental regulation. 

President Trump continues to advocate for a reformed legal immigration system, lower individual and corporate taxes, a withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, and a limited role of the federal government in the healthcare sector, according to pbs.org.

The House of Representatives impeached President Trump December 18, 2019, but he has continued to maintain his innocence throughout the ongoing impeachment trials, according to abcnews.com.  No incumbent president has lost the presidential election since Mr. George H. W. Bush’s defeat in 1992, thus highlighting how voters tend to remain confident in what they know, according to time.com.

Mr. William Joseph Walsh, Republican

Mr. William Joseph Walsh, former Congressman, member of the Tea Party movement, and conservative radio talk show host is from North Barrington, Illinois.  Mr. Walsh hopes to reduce the national debt, restrain executive power, and secure the United States-Mexico border.  Although Mr. Walsh is open about the fact that there is a small chance that President Trump will lose the Republican party nomination, he would like to give Republican voters an alternative vision for the party, according to abcnews.com.

Mr. Walsh labels himself as a conservative due to his beliefs regarding the Second Amendment, border security, and national debt, according to businessinsider.com.  Mr. Walsh previously supported President Trump’s candidacy, but has since rescinded his support.

“We’ve got a guy in the White House who is unfit, completely unfit, to be president and it stuns me that nobody stepped up,” Mr. Walsh said, according to The New York Times. 

Mr. William Weld, Republican

Mr. William Weld was the 68th Governor of Massachusetts and the Libertarian Party’s 2016 vice presidential nominee.  Mr. Weld is from Long Island, New York.  Mr. Weld opposes President Trump’s tariffs and supports cutting taxes, has a liberal stance on social issues, and endorses some form of legal status for undocumented immigrants living in the United States, according to pbs.org.

His campaign has failed to make the ballot in Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Ohio, and other states have canceled their Republican primaries due to the high probability that President Trump will be the Republican Party nominee for the election.  Mr. Weld can qualify for the New York primaries through gaining support from petitions, being certified by the Republican commissioners of the State Board of Elections, or meeting a national donor threshold.

Mr. Nick Langworthy, New York Republican Party Chairman, said that he doubts that Mr. Weld will qualify before the February 25 deadline, according to The Wall Street Journal.  A poll from the Siena College Research Institute found that 66 percent of New York Republicans view President Trump favorably and are prepared to re-elect him.  The poll did not ask about New York native Mr. Weld.

Featured Image by Natalie Dosmond ’21