American rapper Kanye West announced his 2020 United States presidential election campaign through Twitter on July 4, 2020. On July 16, 2020, the campaign filed a Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission. He entered the election after missing at least six states' deadlines to appear on the ballot as a third-party candidate. West selected Michelle Tidball, a Christian preacher from Wyoming, as his running mate. West's platform advocated for the creation of a culture of life, endorsing environmental stewardship, supporting the arts, buttressing faith-based organizations, restoring school prayer, and providing for a strong national defense. A supporter of a consistent life ethic (a tenet of Christian democracy), West opposed abortion and capital punishment. The campaign was endorsed by his then-wife, Kim Kardashian (who ultimately switched her endorsement to Joe Biden), as well as a number of fellow rappers and entertainers.
West qualified for ballot access in 13 states. The campaign sued for ballot access in five additional states (Arizona, Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia and West Virginia), and subsequently lost all appeals, gave up on four other states (Illinois, Montana, Missouri, and New Jersey), and missed the deadlines of a further 29 states, plus the District of Columbia. West also appeared on the California ballot, as Rocky De La Fuente's running mate under the American Independent Party, a decision to which neither West nor De La Fuente had consented. Despite this, West urged his followers on Twitter to vote for him as a write-in candidate instead.
West conceded his campaign on November 4, 2020, the morning after Election Day, after receiving roughly 70,000 votes in the 12 states in which he had ballot access. In these states, West ranked 4th (5th in Colorado, Minnesota and Vermont) in terms of statewide vote count, receiving the sixth-highest national vote count for a presidential candidate, as well as the highest vote count for an unaffiliated candidate that year. West expressed interest in running again in 2024 on the same day.
His 2024 presidential election run was announced in November 2022, when West confirmed the launch of his campaign while answering paparazzi questions; he failed to substantiate with a party affiliation, although his voter registration is Republican. Within the following weeks, he appeared on interviews and podcasts with political figures including Alex Jones, Tim Pool, and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, often accompanied by far-right white supremacist Nick Fuentes. Many statements made by West became widely regarded as antisemitic, leading him to be widely condemned and censured by the mass media—to a degree unprecedented in his career. Furthermore, many brands and entities affiliated with West subsequently dissociated with his involvement or likeness. In March 2023, West retracted the statements he made about the Jewish community after claiming to have seen Jonah Hill's performance in the film 21 Jump Street, and the following December, he further apologized in a more formal manner. Throughout 2023, the campaign had been largely stagnant, and in October, a lawyer for West declared on his behalf that he is not actively a candidate.
2020 presidential campaign
Past
In July 2020, West stated that the idea for his campaign occurred when he was offered the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards (VMA). While showering in his then mother-in-law Kris Jenner's home, West was writing a rap song and thought of the lyric "you're going to run for president". He started laughing hysterically at the thought of including a presidential announcement in his acceptance speech, along with disparaging remarks about award shows. On August 30, 2015, West, after an introduction by Taylor Swift, announced during his VMA acceptance speech that he would be running for president in 2020. The following month, on September 24, West reaffirmed to Vanity Fair that he was considering a 2020 presidential run.
In December 2015, he mentioned his presidential run on his song "Facts". In November 2016, West announced that he supported U.S. president Donald Trump. On December 13, 2016, West met with then President-elect Trump and Ivanka Trump. After meeting with Trump, West implied that he would be running in 2024 instead. When Trump was still running for the Republican nomination, he was asked about running against Kanye and responded, "You know what? I will never say bad about him, you know why? Because he loves Trump!" Though he added, "Now, maybe in a few years I will have to run against him, I don't know. So I'll take that back".
In April 2018, West became popular with conservatives and the alt-right after he publicly supported American conservative pundit Candace Owens. In May 2018, West stated that his presidential run would be a mix between "the Trump campaign and maybe the Bernie Sanders principles".
In October 2018, West met with Trump at the Oval Office where he gave praise to the president. That same month, West announced he would be taking a break from politics after a falling out with Owens. The following month, West's then wife Kim Kardashian stated that he supported Trump's personality but had no understanding of his policies.
In an October 2019 interview with New Zealand radio host Zane Lowe, West declared that he would one day be the U.S. president. In November 2019, an audience laughed when West stated that he would run for president in 2024. He stated that manufacturing for his Yeezy brand would move to the United States, adding that "we would've created so many jobs that I'm not going to run [for president in 2024], I'm going to walk." In January 2020, West told GQ that he would be voting during the election cycle and that "we know who I'm voting on."
Announcement
West announced his campaign on Independence Day via Twitter, writing "We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States! 🇺🇸 #2020VISION". West's campaign announcement went viral, receiving over 100,000 retweets and "Kanye" became the number one trending term in the United States. Various sources questioned whether West was truly running for president or not, as his announcement came after the filing deadlines to run for a major party in all 50 states and most primary elections. However, there is no official deadline to have a candidate registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). On July 7, West argued that he could gain access to appear on ballots beyond their deadline, using complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as precedent.
On July 5, West tweeted a photograph of dome-like personal shelters with the caption "YZY SHLTRS in process". The structures are similar to the prefabricated subsidized housing prototypes West built in August 2019 (inspired by settlements on Tatooine from Star Wars) in Calabasas, California, which had to be torn down as a result of lacking proper permits with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. The shelters are designed to be used as housing units for homeless people. On July 7, Entertainment Tonight reported that West was allegedly "telling people close to him that his announcement of running for president is serious". That same day, Trump told RealClearPolitics that he was watching the campaign intently, saying it could serve as a trial run for West if he were to run again in 2024. The FEC began investigating fictitious filings under West's name.
Forbes piece and signature collecting
West's candidacy was covered by Forbes on July 8. West stated that he would make the final decision to run within 30 days and denied the accusations that his campaign was all merely promotion for his then forthcoming tenth studio album Donda. He revealed his two campaign advisors were his wife Kim Kardashian and SpaceX and Tesla, Inc. CEO, Elon Musk. West also stated that he proposed to Musk that he would "be the head of our space program". West registered to vote for the first time within the previous week and selected Michelle Tidball, a relatively unknown Christian preacher from Wyoming, as his running mate. West stated that he would run under the Birthday Party, because "when we win, it's everybody's birthday", and that he was running for president as a service to God.
Musk reacted to the Forbes piece by tweeting, "We may have more differences of opinion than I anticipated". He later deleted his tweet. On July 9, Trump downplayed West's recent criticism of him, stating that West and Kardashian were "always going to be for us". Trump speculated that West would likely support him because the "radical left" needed to be stopped. The same day, West tweeted a video of himself registering to vote for the first time at the Park County Clerk's Office in Cody, Wyoming. In the video, West discussed with an office employee about changing the difficulties of voter registration in the United States.
Mark Jacoby's company Let The Voters Decide was hired by West to manage the petitions drives around the nation to put West on the ballot for president. Let The Voters Decide is the premiere company in the US for managing petitioners.
On July 14, Ben Jacobs of Intelligencer reported that a source stated on July 8 that they were paid $5,000 to collect signatures on West's behalf in Florida. They needed to collect 132,781 valid signatures before a July 15 deadline for West to qualify on the ballot as a third-party candidate. The following day, voter turnout specialist Steve Kramer told Jacobs that he had been hired to get West on the ballot in South Carolina and Florida. Kramer stated that at the time, West's team was "working over weekend there, formalizing the FEC and other things that they've got to do when you have a lot of corporate lawyers involved." Kramer followed-up with Jacobs and stated that he had to fire his 180-person staff, made up of paid personnel and volunteers, because West was "out".
FEC paperwork and South Carolina rally
On July 15, a Statement of Organization (Form 1) was filed with the FEC. The filing declared a "Kanye 2020" campaign committee with West running as a presidential candidate under the Birthday Party. The filing listed a property bought by West in October 2019 as its address, along with an inactive website and phone number. West notarized an Oklahoma statement of candidacy while in Miami and had a representative pay a $35,000 filing fee on the day of the state's deadline. The Oklahoma State Election Board later announced that West qualified to appear on the general election ballot as an independent candidate. The following day, West filed a Statement of Candidacy (Form 2) with the FEC, indicating that $5,000 has been raised or spent in campaign-related expenses. Form 2 grants West candidacy status under federal campaign laws.
On July 17, West tweeted out a form for collecting digital signatures from South Carolinians so that he could qualify as an independent candidate in the state; the deadline to collect 10,000 signatures was July 20. The campaign set up nine locations near Charleston, South Carolina, to collect signatures in-person, with West sharing the list of locations through Twitter. The petition locations ran from July 18 to 19. West held his first campaign event at Exquis Event Center in North Charleston, South Carolina, on July 19. West wore a bulletproof vest, spoke without a microphone, and called on audience members to speak. During the speech, West criticized American abolitionist Harriet Tubman and claimed that she did not free the slaves, but instead had the slaves go work for other white people. He emphasized the issue of abortion, and cried describing his father's plan to abort him as an unborn baby, and briefly mentioned that he and his wife had planned to abort his eldest daughter, North. He also discussed his opposition to gun control, his support for the LGBT community, and finding a way to fix drug addiction caused by health care.
In an interview with Kris Kaylin of Charleston radio station WWWZ, West outlined the ten principles of his campaign and stated that he asked fellow rapper Jay-Z if he wanted to replace Tidball as his running mate. The South Carolina Election Commission confirmed on July 20 that West failed to submit his petition on time. On July 22, West tweeted that he may postpone his presidential run to 2024, though he subsequently deleted it.
Petition submissions and withdrawals
On July 20, the campaign filed West as an independent candidate in Illinois, where West's childhood home city of Chicago is located, four minutes before the submission deadline. Three objections were filed, all from the Chicago area, and one of which had five individual objectors. August 21 was set as the deadline to verify if the campaign has submitted the minimum 2,500 valid signatures that are required for ballot access.
On August 7, 2020, Illinois election officials released a statement saying Kanye West only had 1,200 valid signatures, 1,300 short of qualifying for ballot access.
On July 27, the campaign submitted its petition signatures in Missouri just before the deadline. West also filed as a candidate in New Jersey. Former Democratic congressional candidate in 2018 and attorney, Scott Salmon, challenged West's signature submissions in New Jersey on July 29. Salmon alleged several signatures were written by the same person, stating, "[t]he odds that 30 people in a row from all over the state would have a little circle about the Is is a little hard to believe". The campaign withdrew its New Jersey petition on August 4.
On July 29, TMZ reported that the campaign was canvassing in New York and West Virginia. On August 3, Intelligencer reported the campaign had begun to expand signature-collecting operations into the swing states of Wisconsin and Ohio, along with Arkansas. Multiple challenges were made to West's petition to appear on the Wisconsin ballot. One such challenge suggested numerous problems with West's nomination papers, including incorrect addresses and fake or fraudulent signatures, such as "Mickey Mouse" and "Bernie Sanders." It also included affidavits from six individuals who said they were duped into putting their names on West's paperwork. A lawyer for the campaign responded to the missed deadline allegation by blaming iPhone clocks for being "notoriously faulty". West accused the Democratic Party of hiring a private investigator to follow his signature collectors as part of an "organized effort of harassment and intimidation".
On August 7, 2020, it became mathematically impossible for the campaign to get the required number of electoral votes for West to win the presidency.