The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial Presidential Election , held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former Vice President Joe Biden and the junior U.S.  Senator from California Kamala Harris defeated the incumbent Republican President Donald Trump and incumbent vice president Mike Pence. The election took place against the backdrop of the global COVID-19- Pandemic and related recession. It was the first election since 1992 and the first in the 21st century, in which the incumbent president failed to win a second term. The election saw the highest voter turnout by percentage since 1900 with each of the two main tickets receiving more than 74 million votes, surpassing Barack Obama's record of 69.5 million votes from 2008. Biden received more than 81 million votes, the most votes ever cast for a candidate in a U.S. presidential election.