KANYE FOR PRESIDENT?

KANYE FOR PRESIDENT?

Hip-Hop legend has bumpy road trying to get on 2020 ballots

Story by Zach King // Design by Nick Drexler

American rapper and billionaire Kanye West announced the start of his presidential campaign on July 4, 2020, via Twitter.

The controversial hip-hop figurehead turned politician tweeted, “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.”

Kanye previously made headlines regarding his political views in the past few years due to his friendship with Republican President Donald Trump. On Sept. 30, 2018, Kanye went on a politically influenced rant during the closing credits of Saturday Night Live on NBC.

He’s also become famous for his sporadic actions on a public stage, one major example being when he took the microphone away from Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video and Music Awards in the middle of her award acceptance speech.

Some have attributed Kanye’s decision to run for President to his bipolar disorder, something he openly addresses on his past four studio albums. He said he is not medicated for the disorder. However, his behavior on Twitter has sparked a conversation on his mental health.

Others speculated Kanye’s announcement to run for office as just another ploy to gain hype for his album “Donda,” however the album has yet to drop and Kanye has yet to halt his pursuit to appear on voters ballots Nov. 3.

On July 7, 2020, a spokesperson for the Federal Election Commission, or FEC, 22 BAGPIPE told Billboard that Kanye had not filed the when Kanye broke into tears while required paperwork in time to make his admitting that he and his wife Kim bid official. Kardashian West considered having an

However, Kanye would complete his abortion with the pregnancy that later registration on July 16, his home address became his daughter, North. He reportedly being his Cody, Wyoming home, and his suggested that instead of offering Plan B, affiliated party being named “The Birthday a morning-after contraceptive, mothers Party,” becoming eligible to apply to be on should be paid to keep their babies. ballots in all 50 US states. Due to his late registration, Kanye has

When asked why he named his had trouble getting on the ballots in many independent political party “The Birthday key battleground states such as Florida Party” by a Forbes interviewer, the and Michigan. The day after his rally, it rapper replied, “Because when we win, was reported that Kanye had missed the it’s everybody’s birthday.” He nominated deadline to get on the South Carolina Michelle Tidball, a Christian preacher from ballot, even though the rapper had time to Wyoming, as his running mate. submit his paperwork. In states such as Illinois, Montana, Ohio “WHEN WE and West Virginia, Kanye failed to turn in enough signatures required to be on the WIN, IT’S ballot. In Wisconsin, Kanye turned in his registration a mere 14 seconds after the 5 EVERYBODY’S p.m. deadline. The registration was denied, and when he sued in response, a judge ruled BIRTHDAY.” that a deadline is a deadline, and Kanye was ineligible for appearing on a ballot. Kanye successfully got on the ballot in at

“It’s always tricky judging celebrities and least 11 states, including the battleground people in the entertainment industry on states of Colorado, Minnesota, and more what they really believe,” junior Jack Tatum recently, Kentucky. However, it’s currently said, President of the Highland Park branch mathematically impossible for Kanye to of Turning Point USA. “We think it’s great win. Even if he wins the states he is on the that he wants to align more with views ballot in, the electoral votes given to him are that are exotic to his kind of industry. He nowhere near the required 270 electoral doesn’t have to think like everyone else.” votes needed to win the presidency.

On July 19, Kanye held his first official Kanye will be on the California voting campaign rally in South Carolina. During ballot but not as a presidential candidate. the rally, he discussed subjects such as guns, The American Independent Party listed saying that “Guns don’t kill people. People Kanye as a running mate to independent kill people.” presidential candidate Roque “Rocky”

He also made other controversial De La Fuente, and neither had much of a statements at the rally, like his comment say in it. Kanye still encourages California about black history. voters to write him in, tweeting a picture

“Harriet Tubman actually never freed the of him signing his name at the bottom of slaves, she just had the slaves go work for a California ballot. The AIP picked Kanye other white people,” he said. due to his political views and his abundant

The defining moment of the rally was celebrity connections.

KANYE FOR PRESIDENT?

“I don’t think his presidential run was that legitimate,” Tatum said. “I think it was more of a publicity stunt than anything else, and I don’t think he can win any states.”

Another reaction to the Kanye announcement was the theory Kanye was running to take votes away from Democrat Presidential Candidate Joe Biden. Kanye has not publicly refuted these rumors.

One student criticized speculation he heard that Kanye could win over the black electorate, saying he found that incorrect.

“If you look at the demographics of his audience from the last six years, it’s made up of teenage white kids often from upper-class neighborhoods” senior Patrick Omundson said, a member of the HP Young Progressives Club. “Those are the people who stan him, who support him, who would vote for him. I think the core fanbase that people were talking about switching their votes from The College Dropout album days simply aren’t his core fanbase anymore.”

The emergence of Kanye and “The Birthday Party” continues the political and cultural shift towards a potential major third party. According to a Gallup Poll, only 40 percent of Americans believed the country needed a third major political party in 2003. However, that number jumped up to 57 percent in 2018. Common reasons listed are the lack of an adequate candidate presented by the two major parties in regards to presidential elections.

Still, many believe, especially in this election, voting for a third party is essentially throwing a vote away. Kanye may be trying to change that, but in 2020, it doesn’t look likely.

“In the Democratic Party, Bernie got 4 percent of the popular vote, and most Bernie supporters would support Jill Stein and The Green Party, but they didn’t support Jill Stein in 2016 because a vote for one of them would have just been a vote for Trump,” sophomore Will Wirskye said. “Even if you supported Kanye, you still wouldn’t vote for him because your vote wouldn’t really mean anything.”

Kanye’s anti-abortion, evangelical views tend to side with the more conservative voters, and some have theorized if Kanye were to run for president again in 2024, he may do it through the Republican Party.

In 2019, after heavily delaying his awaited ninth studio album “Yandhi,” Kanye released “Jesus Is King,” where he expressed his newfound love for Christianity. This may help Kanye in convincing White Evangelicals, a large part of Donald Trump’s supporting base, to look at him as an alternative option.

“It really depends on what the Republican Party is going to look like in 2024,” Tatum said. “I don’t believe that the Republican Party will be very fond of Kanye while he’s running, and I don’t think most Republicans see him as a legitimate political candidate, but some people may have thought that about Donald Trump. It really depends on just how he performs during the debates, how he’s campaigning and really how he performs in the political sphere.”

Kanye is not on the presidential ballot in Texas for 2020, but if he registers in time and correctly in 2024, whether he would garner enough influence in politics to be seen as a possible choice for the presidency by voters in Generation Z is the biggest question. “Part of it really depends on his platforms because there’s both a lot of MAGA people as well as a lot of liberals living in Highland Park,” Omundson said. “Say he runs in three years. The thing with Kanye is the people that would vote for him who are my age will be sophomores and juniors in college, so even the kids who grew up with Kanye would have grown out of him.” Kanye has had to overcome many obstacles to get to the point he is at right now in the election, and while he has been discussing other issues on Twitter, he still appears to be somewhat focused on making ballots in multiple states. Kanye garnered 2 percent support from black voters in an August 12 Politico poll, but America will have to wait and see if he can make any more headlines on election day.

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