On 18 October 2024, President Joko Widodo appointed Teguh Setyabudi as acting governor of Jakarta, replacing Heru Budi Hartono.

[5] Under regulations, only political parties having 22 seats or more in the Jakarta Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) can put forward a candidate.

[6] Candidates may alternatively run if they have gathered at least 618,968 copies of identity cards from local residents, which will be verified by the General Elections Commission (KPU).

The Labor Party supports Anies pairing up with Basuki Tjahaja Purnama or more commonly known as Ahok, Rano Karno, or Hendrar Prihadi.

His candidacy was supported by the Advanced Indonesia Coalition along with other parties such as PKS, PKB, PPP, and NasDem which was dubbed as KIM plus.

[14] Emil's candidacy is viewed as a strategic move due to his high popularity in Bandung as mayor and in West Java as governor.

In his campaign, he stressed the need for a healthy competition in a democracy, as he criticize the prospect of an election where only one candidate stands or having to face an empty ballot box.

[17] It was later revealed that Ridwan Kamil had chosen former Minister of Agriculture Suswono as his running mate[18] and the pair will be declared on 19 August 2024.

[23] In June 2024, KPU announced the discovery of issues within Pongrekun's supporting documents, and suspended his candidacy pending fixes.

[30] Rumours of his nomination became stronger as Anies visited the party headquarters and met Rano Karno on 26 August 2024.

[32] Responding to such rumours, 2024 presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo states that the party is still weighing their options but states his preference in favor of their own party cadres instead while Djarot Saiful Hidayat said that Anies was one of the considered candidates that includes Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, Pramono Anung, and Rano Karno.

[34] This decision was officially announced by party treasurer and former Governor of North Sulawesi Olly Dondokambey, states that Pramono-Rano will be nominated as PDI-P's candidate.

[37] Pramono's candidacy gained wide support from preceding Governors of Jakarta such as Fauzi Bowo, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama and Anies Baswedan.

The following are notable individuals who had declared their candidacy in the election, but canceled their bid: The following are the individuals who have been named as a potential candidate, but publicly declined to run or ran for another elected office: Ridwan Kamil (RK) campaigned on a direct cash disbursement program to individual communities (Rukun warga) in Jakarta, the expansion of community and cultural events such as festivals and car free days, programs to support senior citizens, and provision of mobile psychological counsellors.

[91] Kamil also campaigned on internship and housing suitable for the Generation Z, in addition to unemployment benefits for three months for those whose work was terminated, while touting his closeness with the then president-elect Prabowo Subianto in realizing his programs.

[91] He pursued "happy-go-lucky politics" (politik riang gembira) during the campaign trail and didn't want to disrupt his opponents; he used such strategy to reduce "divisions that occur in community groups".

[126] Meanwhile, the Pramono-Rano campaign was generally optimistic for a first round victory, and former governor Anies Baswedan rebuked Ridwan-Suswono camp's claims, saying, "This is not a weather forecast, so just look at the data and see the facts.

[136] After the Jakarta Regional People's Representative Council confirmed the Pramono-Rano pair, Suswono, who represented Ridwan Kamil as he was away, said, "Yes, his message earlier was that the aspirations conveyed by the people of Jakarta through RIDO (Ridwan Kamil and Suswono) could be conveyed by the elected governor.