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And Finally Artist News
Kanye West’s presidential bid back on – in Oklahoma, at least
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 16 July 2020
Kanye West’s bid to become US President is back on! After it was reported that he’d given up on plans to stand in this year’s presidential election in Florida, he’s now on the ballot in Oklahoma. He’s paid the fee and everything.
The Oklahoma Board Of Elections has confirmed that West had paid the necessary $35,000 to get his name on the list of candidates just before yesterday’s deadline. This follows a report by TMZ yesterday that West had also filed a ‘statement of organisation’ with the Federal Election Commission, officially registering him as the standing candidate for his Birthday Party.
The rapper’s late in the day announcement that he plans to stand in November’s election means that he’s already missed the deadline to appear on the ballot in several US states. Then earlier this week it was reported that he had ditched efforts to get on the ballot in Florida just a few days after his 4 Jul announcement that he was running.
It remains to be seen if he gets his name on the voting slips in any other states. Even if he does, if voters nationwide are not able to vote for him, he’ll not be a serious contender in the race for the White House between Joe Biden and that other guy. Not that it ever looked like he was a serious contender anyway – a poll last week showing that he currently only has the backing of 2% of voters.
Having his name on at least one ballot paper does perhaps legitimise his political goals, however. Maybe it’ll make people more accepting of the idea of him running in a more full-on way at the next election in 2024.
Though, if he’s only going to run in one state, maybe he should have just gone the more traditional route of pursuing politics within one specific state legislature so to get the experience and credibility to seek leadership at a US-wide level. Although, as we saw in the last election, many Americans aren’t really bothered about that sort of thing.
And a bombastic if futile bid for the top job probably sells more records.
