15 Battleground Counties Key to the 2024 Presidential Election

The presidential election officially is decided by the states through the Electoral College. But to fully understand the race’s dynamics, it also helps to look one level down – at counties.

That’s what U.S. News has done through a series examining 15 battleground counties that could prove key in this year’s race for the White House.

Eleven of the 15 counties are located in the seven presidential swing states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – on the logic that a county’s electoral leverage is greater when it sits in the most competitive states. Three of the remaining four counties are in large states that are on the periphery of competitiveness – Florida and Texas – and one county is in a category all its own because it sits in Nebraska, which allocates some of its electoral votes by congressional district.