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Kanye West Files Official Paperwork In First Steps To Run For US President

Kanye West Files Official Paperwork In First Steps To Run For US President

Despite reports the rapper had dropped out of the race, he will run as an independent candidate in Oklahoma for the 'Birthday Party'.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Rapper Kanye West has surprised people the world over after filing official paperwork to enter politics.

Despite reports the 43-year-old had abandoned his dreams of becoming US President, it appears Kanye has filed an official FEC Statement of Organization document.

According to the filing, he is running as an independent in the state of Oklahoma under the Birthday Party.

Federal Election Commission

Andre Bodiford, who has been listed as the campaign's custodian of records and treasurer, submitted the document on behalf of the Kanye 2020 Campaign.

The filing also reveals the office sought out of the campaign: President. Got to hand it to Kanye, he certainly doesn't back down.

While he's just made it for the Oklahoma deadline, he's missed it in several other states.

In the state he's registered, candidates either need 35,592 signatures or pay $35,000. The Guardian reports West did the latter to be able to be in the running. States have different limits for how much is needed to register; Colorado, for example, only requires 5,000 signatures or $1,000.

PA

In addition to the Statement of Organization document, Kanye has also filed a Statement of Candidacy (Form 2) with the FEC, which indicates that he's raised or spent $5,000 in campaign-related expenses. Under federal laws, a successful application of that form grants him the ability to run as a candidate.

This all kicked off on July 5 when Kanye tweeted: "We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States!"

Many people didn't think he was serious and polling this week showed that if he were to run he would only get about two per cent of the ballot when up against the likes of Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Tesla founder Elon Musk originally pledged support for the Kanye 2020 campaign, however he's since encouraged the rapper to run in the next election in 2024.

Twitter/Kanye West

Referring to the rapper's wide-ranging interview with Forbes, the 49-year-old Tesla boss told Page Six: "Kanye explained afterward some of the reasoning behind why he said what he said. It makes more sense than many people, including me, realised.

"I have not dropped my support for Kanye, although I think 2024 would be better than 2020."

The Forbes interview covered a lot of ground, with West going into how he doesn't support abortion and also cautioned about vaccines, in particular one for the coronavirus.

He explained, at the time, he didn't have a specific policy agenda, but more of a design that he would bring to the White House.

It will be interesting to see how far Kanye goes with this presidential bid and whether you will see him in the official debates between Trump and Biden.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Celebrity, News