It looked as though Kanye West’s bid to become US president was over before it began this week, after he failed to land himself on the ballot in Florida, and an insider claimed he was “out” of the running.
A member of the Grammy-winning musician’s campaign team told Intelligencer on Tuesday that he was in the process of “getting all our stuff cancelled”, insisting: “Any candidate running for president for the first time goes through these hiccups.”
However, it’s now been revealed that Kanye is pressing ahead after all, and will appear on the ballot in Oklahoma, filing the necessary paperwork on the final day before the deadline passed.
The Oklahoma State Election Board confirmed in a tweet posted on Wednesday: “Independent presidential candidate Kanye West has qualified for the General Election ballot in Oklahoma.”
This means Kanye will appear on the ballot in at least one state in the US election this November, where he’ll be running against Demoratic candidate Joe Biden and current president Donald Trump.
Unfortunately for Kanye, the deadline has already passed in a number of other states, including North Carolina and New Hampshire, which have been described as “key battlegrounds” in the election.
He could still run in Wyoming, though, where he and his family currently live on a ranch.
The next step for Kanye would be filing a statement of candidacy, or FEC Form 2, which is filed when an individual has raised or spent more than $5,000 dollars (about £3,900) in campaign activity, which then trigger candidacy status.
No record of a Kanye 2020 FEC Form 2 appears online, according to PA.
Kanye first expressed that he intended to run for US president in 2020 five years ago, during an acceptance speech at the MTV VMAs.
In the years since, he has repeatedly alluded to wanting to run for president, and made headlines two weeks ago when he tweeted: “We must now realise the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States.”
At the time, Kanye’s wife Kim Kardashian West and friend Elon Musk both publicly showed him their support, but after the rapper gave an interview stating his anti-abortion and anti-vaccine stances, the SpaceX CEO appeared to be having second thoughts about the endorsement.