On the Fourth of July, Kanye West announced his bid to become the next president of the United States. His proclamation was supported by his wife, Kim Kardashian-West, as well as Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. However, many have doubts about his intention and his chances of winning.
Kanye made the announcement just four months before the 2020 election. How the remaining months before the election matter? How does it affect his chances to win?
It is important to note that states have deadlines for names of the candidates to be added to pre-printed voting forms. Many of these deadlines have already passed.
In addition, Kanye may also be forced to run as an independent candidate as Trump will be Republicans' candidate while Joe Biden has already become the presumptive Democratic nominee. If Kanye intends to run as an independent, he would have to gather a certain amount of signatures and register in states so his name would appear on ballots as an independent candidate.
However, there are also deadlines for this. That being said, West's chances to run in six major states, including delegate-rich Texas and New York, are slim as the deadlines for these states already passed. The deadlines for other states, on the other hand, are quickly approaching.
So far, West's name wasn't included in the state ballots. It means he hasn't submitted the paperwork at the Federal Election Commission for his name to be officially considered as a candidate in the November 2020 elections. If he would run as a write-in candidate, he would still have to file before Election Day with many other states for the votes for him to be counted.
To this date, there is only one presidential candidate in the FEC database for the 2020 election that is closely named "Kanye West." It is a Green Party 2015 candidate named "Kanye Deez Nutz West" and it is likely not the real Kanye West.
So what is Kanye's plan? Many think that the presidential bid announcement was just a publicity stunt while others think it's a plot to peel votes away from Biden. The camp of the former Vice President has yet to give public comment about Kanye West's presidential bid while the Trump campaign simply said "God bless America" when asked about it.
Many also mocked the rapper's pronouncement of his plan to run for president. His announcement on Twitter received mostly hilarious responses.
One said Kanye West has been known as a staunch Trump supporter so it's quite obvious what his intentions are. Another said Taylor Swift should also declare her candidacy as the "Lover" singer has more followers than Kanye and Trump and "1,000% more rational" than the two men.
