Kanye West’s boisterous run as a presidential candidate has reportedly come to an abrupt end according to Steve Kramer, a “get out the vote specialist,” who says he attempted to get the hip hop artist on the ballots in Florida and North Carolina. Kramer states that West had attempted to get 132,781 with the assistance of over 180 volunteers, before allegedly bowing out today.
Kramer reported that the artist tried formalizing his candidate with the FEC over the weekend and stated that the artist had “overwhelming support” to get him included on the ballot. Despite West allegedly dropping out of the race on short notice, Kramer states that he holds no bad feelings on the situation.
“I have nothing good or bad to say about Kanye,” Kramer told Intelligencer. “Everyone has their personal decision about why they make decisions. Running for president has to be one of the hardest things for someone to actually contemplate at that level.”
An hour after Kramer’s announcement, West released a video on Twitter showing him registering to vote at the county clerk’s office in Cody, Wyoming, the location of his ranch, while the caption of the tweet linked to vote.org. This video opens up with West stating he wants to teach others how to register to vote and ends with him discussing felon disenfranchisement with a local official.
To vote click below https://t.co/LRJ8hC5rGi#2020VISION pic.twitter.com/MJOVGYYYvQ
— ye (@kanyewest) July 9, 2020
While West’s run was brief, it provided a variety of reactions, and eventually led to him polling at 2 percent in the national election polls earlier this week. Artists from Will.I.Am to Chance The Rapper have provided extensively different opinions on his candidacy, with the former calling the decision “a dangerous thing to be playing with,” while the latter suggested he trusted West more than Democratic nominee Joe Biden.