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

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

History was made 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 retired in the middle of an election year and Harris could become the first female president. The fundamental principles of democracy in the most powerful nation in the world will be tested like never before 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 misinformation storm, 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 be done with Trump after January 6, 2021.

That was the day he inflamed his followers with false claims of election fraud, ordered them to march on the US Capitol as Congress ceremonially certified Biden’s election victory, and then stood by as riots threatened lawmakers already. his own vice president.

But there aren’t enough Republicans joined Democrats to convict Trump in an impeachment trial, clearing the way for him to run for office again.

Trump began plotting a comeback even as some leaders in his party expected to be upstaged by Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, or Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.

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

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

None of that slowed Trump, who virtually ignored his opponents during the primaries as he marched toward the Republican presidential nomination. His followers adopted a mugshot from one of his arrests as a symbol of resistance to a corrupt system.

Trump’s candidacy tapped into anger over inflation and frustration over migrants crossing the southern border. He also criticized Biden for considering him too old for the job, even though he is 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 during a presidential debate on June 27 — losing his train of thought, appearing confused, stuttering answers — he faced mounting pressure from within his party to drop out of the race.

As Biden faced a political crisis, Trump attended 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 from a semi-automatic rifle.

Trump grabbed his ear and fell to the stage. As Secret Service agents crowded around him, he stood with a trickle of blood running down his face, raised his fist in the air and shouted “fight, fight, fight!” An American flag flew 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 preparing to solve a puzzle with her nieces on the morning of July 21 when Biden called. He had decided to end his re-election bid and endorse Harris as his replacement.

He spent the rest of the day making dozens of phone calls to drum up support, and had enough to secure the nomination in two days.

It was a surprising change of fortune. Harris had failed when she ran for president four years earlier, dropping out before the first Democratic primary contest. Biden resurrected his political career by choosing her as his running mate, and she became the first woman, black and of South Asian descent, to serve as vice president.

But Harris’ struggles didn’t end there. He second-guessed questions about immigration, oversaw widespread changes in his office and took a backseat instead of using his historic status as a platform.

That all began to change on June 24, 2022, when the United States Supreme Court struck down the nation’s right to abortion enshrined in Roe v. Wade. Harris became the White House’s leading advocate on an issue that transformed American politics.

He also proved to be more agile than before. Shortly after returning from a week-long trip to Africa, her team orchestrated a spontaneous adventure to Nashville so Harris could show her support for two Tennessee lawmakers who had been expelled for protesting gun control.

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

The day after becoming a candidate, Harris flew to Wilmington, Delaware, to visit campaign headquarters. Staff members had spent the morning printing out “Kamala” and “Harris for President” signs to tape next to outdated “Biden-Harris” signs.

There were 106 days left until the end of the elections.

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

It’s a fitting counterpoint to Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again,” which he has brandished since launching his first campaign more than eight years ago.

The two candidates have almost nothing in common, something that was demonstrated on September 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. He said she would be “a president for all Americans.”

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

Harris was seen as gaining ground. Trump insisted he won, but rejected a second debate. The race remained remarkably close.

Experts and pollsters have spent the past few weeks scrambling to identify any changes in the candidates’ chances. Microscopic changes in public opinion could influence the election outcome. It could take days to count enough votes to determine who wins.

The result, when it becomes clear, could be one more surprise in a campaign that has been full of them.