A presidential campaign unlike any other ends on Tuesday. Here's how we got here

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's the election that no one could have foreseen.

Not so long ago, Donald Trump was marinating in anger at Mar-a-Lago after being impeached twice and voted out of the White House. Even some of his closest allies were looking forward to a future without the charismatic yet erratic billionaire leading the Republican Party, especially after his failed attempt to overturn an election ended in violence and shame. When Trump announced his comeback bid two years ago, the New York Post buried the article on page 26.

At the same time, Kamala Harris was languishing as a low-profile sidekick to President Joe Biden. Once seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party, she struggled with both her profile and her portfolio, disappointing her supporters and delighting her critics. No one was talking about Harris running for the top job — they were wondering if Biden should replace her as his running mate when he sought a second term.

But on Tuesday, improbable as it may have seemed before, Americans will choose either Trump or Harris to serve as the next president. It’s the final chapter in one of the most bewildering, unpredictable and consequential sagas in political history. For once, the word “unprecedented” has not been overused.

“If someone had told you ahead of time what was going to happen in this election, and you tried to sell it as a book, no one would believe it,” said Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster with more than four decades of experience. “It’s energized the country and it’s polarized the country. And all we can hope is that we come out of it better in the end.”

History was and will be made. The United States has never elected a president who has been convicted of a crime. Trump survived not one but two assassination attempts. Biden dropped out in the middle of an election year and Harris could become the first female president. Fundamental tenets about democracy in the most powerful nation on earth will be tested like no time since the Civil War.

And that’s not to mention the backdrop of simultaneous conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, hacking by foreign governments, an increasingly normalized blizzard of misinformation and the intimate involvement of the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.

For now, the only thing the country can agree on is that no one knows how the story will end.

Republicans could have been finished with Trump after Jan. 6, 2021.

That's the day he fired up his supporters with false claims of voter fraud, directed them to march on the U.S. Capitol while Congress was ceremonially certifying Biden's election victory, and then stood by as rioting threatened lawmakers and his own vice president.

But not enough Republicans joined with Democrats to convict Trump in an impeachment trial, clearing a path for him to run for office again.

Trump started planning a comeback even as some leaders in his party hoped he would be eclipsed by Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, or Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who served as Trump's ambassador to the United Nations.

In the year after Trump announced that he would run against Biden, he faced criminal charges four times. Two of the indictments were connected to his attempts to overturn his election defeat. Another involved his refusal to return classified documents to the federal government after leaving office. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, and none of those cases have been resolved.

However, a fourth indictment in New York led to Trump becoming the first president in U.S. history to be criminally convicted. A jury found him guilty on May 30 of falsifying business records over hush money payments to a porn star who claimed they had an affair.

None of it slowed Trump, who practically ignored his opponents during the primary as he barreled toward the Republican presidential nomination. A mugshot from one of his arrests was adopted by his followers as a symbol of resisting a corrupt system.

Trump's candidacy capitalized on anger over inflation and frustration about migrants crossing the southern border. He also hammered Biden as too old for the job even though he's only four years younger than the president.

But Democrats also thought Biden, 81, would be better off considering retirement than a second term. So when Biden struggled through a presidential debate on June 27 — losing his train of thought, appearing confused, stammering through answers — he faced escalating pressure within his party to drop out of the race.

As Biden faced a political crisis, Trump went to an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. A young man evaded police, climbed to the top of a nearby building and fired several shots with a semiautomatic rifle.

Trump grabbed at his ear and dropped to the stage. While Secret Service agents crowded around him, he lurched to his feet with a streak of blood across his face, thrust his fist in the air and shouted “fight, fight, fight!” An American flag billowed overhead.

It was an instantly iconic moment. Trump's path to the White House seemed clearer than ever — perhaps even inevitable.

The vice president was getting ready to do a puzzle with her nieces on the morning of July 21 when Biden called. He had decided to end his reelection bid and endorse Harris as his replacement.

She spent the rest of the day making dozens of phone calls to line up support, and she had enough to secure the nomination within two days.

It was a startling reversal of fortune. Harris had flamed out when running for president four years earlier, dropping out before the first Democratic primary contest. Biden resuscitated her political career by choosing her as his running mate, and she became the first woman, Black person and person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president.

But Harris' struggles did not end there. She fumbled questions about immigration, oversaw widespread turnover in her office and faded into the background rather than use her historic status as a platform.

All of that started to change on June 24, 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to abortion enshrined by Roe v. Wade. Harris became the White House's top advocate on an issue that reshaped American politics.

She also proved to be more nimble than before. Shortly after returning from a weeklong trip to Africa, her team orchestrated a spur-of-the-moment venture to Nashville so Harris could show support for two Tennessee lawmakers who had been expelled for protesting for gun control.

Meanwhile, Harris was networking with local politicians, business leaders and cultural figures to gain ideas and build connections. When Biden dropped out, she was better positioned than many realized to seize the moment.

The day after she became the candidate, Harris jetted to Wilmington, Delaware to visit campaign headquarters. Staff members had spent the morning printing “Kamala” and “Harris for President” signs to tape up next to obsolete “Biden-Harris” posters.

There were 106 days until the end of the election.

While speaking to campaign staff in Wilmington, Harris used a line that has become a mantra, chanted by supporters at rallies across the country. “We are not going back,” she declared.

It's a fitting counterpoint to Trump's slogan, “make America great again,” which he has wielded since launching his first campaign more than eight years ago.

The two candidates have almost nothing in common, something that was on display on Sept. 10, when Harris and Trump met for the first time for their only televised debate.

Harris promised to restore abortion rights and use tax breaks to support small businesses and families. She said she would “be a president for all Americans.”

Trump took credit for nominating the justices that helped overturn Roe, pledged to protect the U.S. economy with tariffs and made false claims about migrants eating people's pets. He called Harris “the worst vice president in the history of our country.”

Harris was widely viewed as gaining the upper hand. Trump insisted he won but refused a second debate. The race remained remarkably close.

Pundits and pollsters have spent the final weeks straining to identify any shift in the candidates' chances. Microscopic changes in public opinion could swing the outcome of the election. It might take days to count enough votes to determine who wins.

The outcome, whenever it becomes clear, could be just another surprise in a campaign that's been full of them.

FILE - An Early Voting sign and a "No Campaigning within 150 feet of Polling Place" sign seen the polling station, Oct. 31, 2024, in Stockbridge, Ga. (AP Photo/Jason Allen, File)

FILE - Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris takes a photo with supporters during a campaign rally at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump greets supporters at a campaign rally in North Charleston, S.C., Feb. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/David Yeazell, File)

FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump watches as Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during an ABC News presidential debate, Sept. 10, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at her campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Del., July 22, 2024. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool, File)

FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks during a presidential debate with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

FILE - Former President Donald Trump looks out at the audience as he speaks at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Election Day, Nov. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

FILE - Vice President Kamala Harris listens as President Joe Biden speaks about distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, in the East Room of the White House, May 17, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

A presidential campaign unlike any other ends on Tuesday. Here's how we got here

A presidential campaign unlike any other ends on Tuesday. Here's how we got here

Voters are reflected in a window near an American flag as they mark their ballots during early voting in the general election, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at City Hall in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

An 18-year-old woman dreaming of becoming a nurse, a single mother, a father of two and a former Princeton football star were killed when the driver of a white pickup truck sped down Bourbon Street, packed with holiday revelers.

Officials have not yet released the names of the 14 people killed in the New Orleans New Year's Day truck attack, but their families and friends have started sharing their stories.

New Orleans Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna said in a statement late Wednesday that the names of the dead will be released once autopsies are complete and they’ve talked with the next of kin. A spokesperson for the coroner said Thursday that there were no updates. About 30 people were injured.

Billy DiMaio, 25, was humble and gentled-hearted, so devoted to family that he had a tattoo featuring all of his cousins’ names, his parents told NOLA.com.

A New York City-based account executive for the media company Audacy, DiMaio was in New Orleans to celebrate New Year’s Eve and see friends who planned to go to the Sugar Bowl, Tracie and Bill DiMaio, of Holmdel, New Jersey, told the news site. His friends escaped injury.

“He was a good, humble kid,” Bill DiMaio said. “He loved life.”

Billy DiMaio grew up on Long Island, New York, before the family moved to New Jersey. He graduated in 2022 from Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, where he was on the lacrosse team and earned a master’s degree.

“He was a pure, gentle-hearted soul," his mother said. “He will be truly missed.”

He had worked for Audacy since 2023.

“Beyond his professional achievements, Billy will be fondly remembered for his unwavering work ethic, positive attitude, and kindness," Audacy said in an emailed statement. “He was a true asset to the Audacy team, and his contributions and presence will be deeply missed.”

Archbishop Shaw High School, in Marrero, Louisiana, posted on Facebook that class of 2021 alum Hubert Gauthreaux, was among the victims.

Gauthreaux “was tragically killed in the senseless act of violence that occurred early this morning in the French Quarter. He was 21 years old,” the Catholic boys school posted Wednesday evening. “We are asking the entire Archbishop Shaw family to pray for the repose of Hubert’s soul, his family and friends during this difficult time, and all those affected by this tragedy.”

University of Alabama freshman Kareem Badawi was among those killed in the attack. A native of Louisiana and a graduate of the Episcopal School of Baton Rouge, Badawi had started at the Alabama university this fall.

“It is with great sadness and grief, and with hearts satisfied with Allah’s decision and destiny, I announce the death of my son, Karim Bilal Badawi, who died early today in the morning as a result of a tragic accident in New Orleans,” his father, Belal Badawi, posted on Facebook. “We ask Allah Almighty to shower his mercy on him, and give us patience and strength.”

His father had posted in May celebrating his son’s high school graduation and plans to attend the University of Alabama.

The university issued a statement confirming Badawi’s death.

“I grieve alongside family and friends of Kareem in their heartbreaking loss,” University of Alabama President Stuart R. Bell said.

Christopher B. Roberts, president of Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, said on the social platform X that 2023 graduate Drew Dauphin died in the attack.

“Words cannot convey the sorrow the Auburn Family feels for Drew’s family and friends during this unimaginably difficult time,” Roberts said. “Our thoughts are with the Dauphin family and the families of all the victims of this senseless tragedy.”

Dauphin was a supplier process engineer at the American Honda Motor Company in Birmingham, Alabama, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The parents of Matthew Tenedorio told NBC News that their son was one of the people killed in the attack.

“He was 25 years old. He was just starting life. He had the job of his dreams,” Cathy Tenedorio said. “It’s just very sad.”

A GoFundMe page created by a cousin says he was an audiovisual technician at the Superdome.

“He was a wonderful kid,” Louis Tenedorio added. “He loved people. He loved animals. He always had a smile. So many friends. He had so many friends.”

Cathy Tenedorio said she had spent New Year’s Eve with Matthew and another one of her sons.

“We had dinner and we did fireworks outside, and just laughing and hugging each other and telling each other we loved each other,” she said. She added that they had tried to dissuade him from going into the city.

“They don’t think about risk,” she said.

Zion Parsons, of Gulfport, Mississippi, had been celebrating New Year’s Eve at his first night on Bourbon Street when a vehicle appeared and plowed into his friend, 18-year-old Nikyra Dedeaux, who he said had dreamed of becoming a nurse.

“A truck hit the corner and comes barreling through throwing people like in a movie scene, throwing people into the air,” Parsons told The Associated Press. “It hit her and flung her like at least 30 feet and I was just lucky to be alive."

As the crowd scattered in the chaos he ran through a gruesome aftermath of bleeding and maimed victims, hearing gunshots and explosive sounds.

“Bodies, bodies all up and down the street, everybody screaming and hollering” Parsons said. “People crying on the floor, like brain matter all over the ground. It was just insane, like the closest thing to a war zone that I’ve ever seen.”

Dedeaux was a responsible daughter who helped take care of her siblings, Parsons said. Dedeaux had a job at a hospital and was set to start college and begin working towards her goal of becoming a registered nurse.

“She had her mindset — she didn’t have everything figured out but she had the plan laid down,” Parsons said.

A 37-year-old father of two from Baton Rouge, Reggie Hunter had just left work and headed to celebrate New Year’s with a cousin when the attack happened, his first cousin Shirell Jackson told Nola.com.

Hunter died and his cousin was injured, Jackson said.

A former high school and college football player from Louisiana was among those who died, according to an education official.

Tiger Bech, 27, died Wednesday morning at a New Orleans hospital, according to local media outlets citing Kim Broussard, the athletic director at St. Thomas More Catholic High School in Lafayette. Bech attended the high school, where he played wide receiver, quarterback, punt returner and defensive back, NOLA.com reported.

Bech played football at Princeton University before graduating in 2021. Most recently he was working as an investment trader at a New York brokerage firm.

Marty Cannon, STM principal and former coach of Bech, said he was charismatic, intelligent and an incredibly talented football player. He regularly returned home to visit his tight-knit family, close friends and people at the school. He was home over Christmas.

“We live in a relatively small community here where not a lot of people leave but many do," Cannon said. “I'm not surprised at all that Tiger could take off from south Louisiana and go off and get an amazing education at a place like Princeton and then lock himself into a community up there and just flourish. He’s that kind of guy.”

Princeton football coach Bob Surace said Wednesday that he had been texting with Bech’s father, sharing memories of the player, who was a school kick returner and receiver from 2017 to 2019. He earned All-Ivy League honors as a returner.

“He might be the first Tiger to ever play for us, and that nickname kind of described him as a competitor,” Surace told ESPN. The school’s mascot is the tiger. “He was somebody that somehow, like in the key moments, just excelled and was full of energy, full of life.”

Bech has been working at Seaport Global, where company spokesperson Lisa Lieberman could not confirm his death. She told the AP, “He was extremely well regarded by everybody who knew him.”

Bech’s younger brother, Jack, is a top wide receiver at Texas Christian University.

In a response to a KLFY-TV report posted on X about Tiger Bech’s death, a post from an account for a Jack Bech on the social media site said: “Love you always brother ! You inspired me everyday now you get to be with me in every moment. I got this family T, don’t worry. This is for us.”

Nicole Perez was a single mother to a 4-year-old son working hard to make life better for her family when she was killed, according to her employer.

Perez, who was in her late 20s, was recently promoted to manager at Kimmy’s Deli in Metairie, Louisiana, and “was really excited about it,” deli owner Kimberly Usher said in a phone interview with the AP. Usher confirmed Perez’s death through her sister, who also works for her.

Usher said Perez would walk in the morning to the deli, which opened at breakfast time, and ask lots of questions about the business side of the operations. She also was permitted to bring her son, Melo, to work.

“She was a really good mom,” said Usher, who started a GoFundMe account to cover Perez’s burial costs and to help with expenses for her son that “he will need to transition into a new living situation,” the donation request says.

— Heaven Sensky-Kirsch said her father, Jeremi Sensky, endured 10 hours of surgery for injuries that included two broken legs. He was taken off a ventilator Thursday.

Jeremi Sensky was ejected from the wheelchair he was using and had bruises to his face and head, Sensky-Kirsch said in a phone interview from a hospital intensive care unit.

“He’s talking right now,” Sensky-Kirsch said late Thursday morning.

Sensky, 51, who works in the family’s tree service business, had driven from his home in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, to New Orleans to celebrate the holiday.

Before the attack, Sensky and the two friends had been having pizza, his daughter said. Sensky left them to return to his hotel on Canal Street because he felt cold, she said.

Sensky-Kirsch said others could see the attacker coming and were able to run out of the way, but her father “was stuck on the road.” His wheelchair can be seen in some images lodged against a crane.

When he didn’t return to the hotel, they went to look for him, she said.

“We thought he was dead,” Sensky-Kirsch said. “We can’t believe he’s alive.”

— Ryan Quigley, who was a teammate of Bech’s at Princeton, was with him when they were struck by the truck. Quigley was injured, according to family and friends.

“Ryan is doing okay. He is stable and resting in the company of his family and friends,” the Quigleys said in an update on a GoFundMe page set up by his friends. “Ryan loves you all. Please keep the Bech family, the other families, and all of those affected by this tragedy in your prayers. Thank you all.”

— University of Georgia President Jere W. Morehead said on X that a student was critically injured in the attack and is receiving medical treatment. He did not name the student.

— The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on X that two Israeli citizens were injured in the attack.

— University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce said Thursday that one of the university’s students was critically injured in New Orleans. Boyce did not identify the student.

The story has been updated to correct Tiger Bech’s age from 28 to 27, and to correct the spelling of Metairie, Louisiana, from Metarie.

Jack Brook in New Orleans, Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi, Travis Loller in Nashville and Kimberly Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama contributed to this report. Bellisle reported from Seattle.

Trevant Hayes, 20, sits in the French Quarter after the death of his friend, Nikyra Dedeaux, 18, after a pickup truck crashed into pedestrians on Bourbon Street followed by a shooting in the French Quarter in New Orleans, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

Zion Parsons, 18, talks about the death of his friend, Nikyra Dedeaux, 18, and the scene after a pickup truck crashed into pedestrians on Bourbon Street followed by a shooting in the French Quarter in New Orleans, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)