Is Kanye West Really Running an Indy Campaign for President?

16 Replies

Rapper Kanye West announced on Twitter yesterday that he is running for president, using the hashtag #2020Vision:

Billionaire Elon Musk tweeted his approval:

The question remains whether West is really running or just seeking attention. Supposing he is actually running, it could be too late to appear on the ballot in several states due to expired filing deadlines.  According to Hunter Schwarz, the deadline for Independent candidates has already passed in Indiana, Maine, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Texas (According to Richard Winger’s comment below, the deadline for New York is July 30). West could still qualify as a write-in candidate in most, if not all these states.  In 2016, Evan McMullin announced his Independent candidacy for president in August of that year and still appeared on the ballot in 11 states and as a write-in in most others.  However, some laws have changed since 2016 and petitioning is more difficult due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As IPR readers may recall, the late 2016 Libertarian presidential candidate Marc Allan Feldman interpreted West’s lyrics to be libertarian and asked him to be his running mate.  It is not believed West ever responded to Feldman’s request.  Since the 2016 election, West has been vocal in his support for President Donald Trump.  He has appeared at the White House wearing a red Make America Great Again hat.  Although West has previously expressed interest in running for president he was not expected to run until 2024.

Although some have speculated a West candidacy could draw African American support from Trump, the opposite may be true.  It has been suggested West would pull more support from presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden since African Americans overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.  That may be the intent.

The Reform Party has invited West to have a discussion with their presidential nominee Rocky De La Fuente:

16 thoughts on “Is Kanye West Really Running an Indy Campaign for President?”

  1. SocraticGadfly

    Reform Party that desperate for attention? Hard to imagine Rocky willingly surrendering any oxygen in a room, though.

  3. NewFederalist

    As I understand it Mr. West suffers from bipolar disorder. I am very familiar with the condition and if he doesn’t keep his medicines properly balanced he can suffer from bouts of mania. When that occurs all sorts of bizarre things can happen. This might be one of those.

  5. Justice Apash

    I see this as a huge potential positive. Although I am leaning towards supporting Jo Jorgensen, people voting for Kanye West would be a giant middle finger to the duopoly. In states where he cannot get ballot access, I see a huge potential for write-in votes. In 2010 Lisa Murkowski won the Alaska Senate seat with write-in votes. You could say she was the exception because she was the incumbent and she was had huge name recognition in Alaska however Kanye West has enough name recognition to get several write-in votes. Do I believe Kanye West is a good candidate and should be president? Of course not. However voting for him would expose that the two-party system is a joke. If they are going to play the joke on us, people can vote for their own joke candidate. So while I wish that he would support one of the third party candidates and give it publicity instead of his own candidacy, I see this as having a positive impact.

  7. SocraticGadfly

    He’s got less than a rat’s ass and MUCH less than wife Kim Kardashian’s ass’ chance of any real impact.

  9. Tony From Long Island

    Justice Apash: ” .. . . . . . people voting for Kanye West would be a giant middle finger to the duopoly. . . . ”

    Or a middle finger to sanity

  11. Justice Apash

    “Or a middle finger to sanity” Yes, I realize that. I am well aware of that. I would prefer the mainstream media give publicity to the Libertarian, Reform, Constitution, and Green Party. However they would rather publicize Kanye West for ratings. But yeah I agree with Brady Olson this year and this election has been a giant middle to sanity. Insanity is having duopoly select Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Insanity is having Donald Trump promise to drain the swamp and then select people like John Bolton. We came very close to an Iranian War because of Bolton until Trump overruled him. Donald Trump then was surprised that John Bolton backstabbed him. Insanity is having the main opposition to Donald Trump being a warmonger Iraqi War, Drug war supporter, who basically wrote the Patriot Act.

  12. Thane Eichenauer

    Is being a billionaire musician not an influencial enough position to move the needle of US presidential politics these days?
    https://www.forbes.com/profile/kanye-west/#2d97be3756f1
    Not everyone can be a billionaire 60 times over like Michael Bloomberg. Is $1.3 billion in wealth chump change?
    https://www.forbes.com/profile/michael-bloomberg/#4058e4cf1417
    It it because Kanye West isn’t a short white man of the Jewish faith (NTTIAWWT) that Kayne West gets poo-poohed?
    I realize that his latest album Jesus is King might not be to everybodies taste but hey, have you turned your ear toward it?
    “Kanye West Is ‘King’ Of the Artist 100 Chart Once Again”
    https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/chart-beat/8542710/kanye-west-tops-artist-100-chart
    “Jesus is King” by Kanye West on Spotify
    https://open.spotify.com/album/0FgZKfoU2Br5sHOfvZKTI9

  14. Thane Eichenauer

    > Kanye West running for president works about as well as Joe Biden cutting a few rap tracks.

    I and Scott Adams would kindly inform you that persuasion by analogy is a failed method. We won’t keep you from using that technique but we will attempt to inform you that if you want to effectively persuade people then you should look elsewhere for a winning system.

    For more info about this take a look at:
    https://www.scottadamssays.com/2016/03/22/the-belgium-analogy/

  15. paulie

    I and Scott Adams would kindly inform you that persuasion by analogy is a failed method. We won’t keep you from using that technique but we will attempt to inform you that if you want to effectively persuade people then you should look elsewhere for a winning system.

    I don’t feel a need to try to persuade anyone on this. It’s an assessment and observation. People can agree or disagree as they see fit.

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