Kanye West’s 2020 presidential campaign is finally over, with the hip hop artists earning just 60,000 votes in the 12 states he was running in; Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Utah, Idaho, Iowa, Tennessee, Colorado, Minnesota, Vermont and Mississippi. West announced he conceded the vote on Twitter early this morning, where he hinted at a 2024 run.
West’s run was marred by several notable difficulties, the performer was excluded from the ballots in his home state of Illinois, alongside Wisconsin, Ohio and West Virginia and failed to meet ballot requirements in Virginia, Arizona and South Carolina ahead of their deadline. His exclusions from Illinois and Wisconsin stemmed from questions surrounding the legitimacy of the signatures he collected, which was also an issue that arose in Virginia. The legal counsel for West’s campaign filed lawsuits in West Virginia, Ohio and Wisconsin in an attempt to place the artist on each state’s presidential ballots. He was also listed as vice presidential candidate for the Independent Party in California.
His campaign started ramping up late into the election as well, with him releasing his first and only campaign ad in early October, and spending $3 million on his campaign a month prior. West’s campaign managed to raise only $2,000 that month as well.
The campaign was also marred by a report that West was working with four Republican political operatives to place his name on the ballot. Three of the figures Greg Keller, Lane Ruthland and Chuck Wilton, also had ties to U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign, with Ruthland currently representing the Trump campaign in a federal court case.
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