The shortlist of candidates for TIME’s 2020 Person of the Year was announced Thursday morning during NBC’s Today show. Four candidates are being considered by TIME editors for this year’s selection of the person who affected the news or our lives the most, for better or worse.
Since 1927, TIME has picked a Person of the Year, usually an individual but sometimes multiple people who greatly impacted the country and world during the calendar year.
In 2019, TIME’s Person of the Year was Greta Thunberg, the environmental activist who challenged world leaders to fight climate change and inspired a global movement.
The Person of the Year will be announced Thursday night during the first-ever TIME Person of the Year broadcast special on NBC at 10 p.m. ET.
Here are the four finalists for 2020:
Joe Biden
In a historic and unprecedented election, Joe Biden was named the 46th President of the United States. He broke former President Barack Obama’s record for the most votes ever cast for a presidential candidate.
Donald Trump
Similar to every year he’s been in office, Trump’s had an immense influence on 2020. His Administration has been highly criticized for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since losing the election, he’s baselessly claimed that there was fraud and falsely said that he’s the winner.
Frontline Health Care Workers and Dr. Anthony Fauci
The COVID-19 pandemic has put the world on hold. However, anyone deemed essential—like health care workers, postal workers, sanitation workers, transportation workers and many others—had to keep going. They risked their lives and in doing so, saved countless other lives. One of those frontline workers, who spends part of his day doing rounds at the hospital, is Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leader of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the most visible scientific leader in the U.S. in 2020.
Movement for Racial Justice
The tragic killing of George Floyd started a movement, not just in America but across the globe. In the midst of a worldwide pandemic, protesters took to the streets, demanding action to fight racial injustice at the hands of police and any entity that embodies systemic discrimination. There have been some positive outcomes since the movement started but it’s far from over.
The shortlist of candidates for TIME’s 2020 Person of the Year was announced Thursday morning during NBC’s Today show. Four candidates are being considered by TIME editors for this year’s selection of the person who affected the news or our lives the most, for better or worse. Since 1927, TIME has picked a Person of…