Kanye West is running for president: Everything to know
No one took him seriously when he announced his run for president during his 2015 VMAs speech, but Kanye West is officially throwing his hat into the ring for the 2020 race.
In a year that has just gotten crazier and crazier, this means the presidential race in 2020 will be Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and Kanye West. Though, in the FEC database, only Kanye “Deez Nutz” West is running for president. But is it too late for West to hop into the 2020 race?
How to be a presidential candidate
If Kanye “Deez Nutz” West can run for president, than anyone can. And technically speaking, as long as you’re a US born citizen over the age of 35, you can run for president. Should you is a different story. But as long as you meet the criteria, it’s easy to fill out a form with the Federal Election Commission and be recognized as an official candidate for office.
Granted, in a majority of states, people can write in Kanye West’s name if they so desire, and it’ll be counted the same as if he was listed on the ballot. But with West announcing his campaign, it’s implied that he wants his name on the ballet right next to Biden and Trump.
For that, he’s already missed the deadline to run as a Republican or Democrat, but he still may have time to get on the ballot in some states as an independent. But most likely, his focus will be as a write-in candidate.
His platform
Kanye West may be a bit all over the place at times, but he is a passionate person with a platform. Kim Kardashion and him have been big on prison reform, and he’s made his support of Kim being a lawyer loud and clear. Even as recently as November, when discussing a 2024 run for office, West stated prison reform was a big issue.
Outside of that though, West hasn’t really taken a stand on a whole lot. If anything, he’s made plenty of controversy, between his visit to the Oval Office, saying slavery was a choice, and the “Sunday Service” church shows he’s been doing. But then again, so have both Trump and Biden.
Is he serious?
No one took him seriously in 2015. Even as he continued to talk about it years later, no one took Kanye and his decision seriously. So, is Kanye West seriously running for president? Right now, if he’s serious, he hasn’t filled out any of the paperwork he’s supposed to. Nor has he formed a committee to get himself elected.
Granted, he could be in the process of doing so. But the longer West takes to get started, the worse his odds of a successful campaign get. If he’s seriously running for president in 2020, West has a giant mountain to climb. It’ll be up to him to make it to the top before Election Day in November.
Worse comes to worst, he could use this as a launching pad for a 2024 campaign and get started early. But at the end of the day, we’ll have to wait and see what comes of this announcement.
