That Was Quick: Kanye West Already Dropping Out of 2020 Race

Maybe we shouldn’t be all that surprised, but Kanye West appears to have already grown tired of the idea of running for President.

The eccentric hip hop superstar announced just days ago that he would be seeking the highest office in the land during the 2020 election – an announcement that seemed farcical on its face.  Then, when ‘Ye declared that he would be doing so under the umbrella of the self-created “Birthday Party”, most folks around the country simply wrote his announcement off as “Kanye being Kanye”.

Looks like they were right.

From a recent article at NYmag.com:

Later that day, I talked to Steve Kramer. He is a get-out-the-vote specialist who runs a firm that also helps candidates get on the ballot. Kramer, who has worked mostly for Democratic candidates but has also had some Republican clients, told me that he had been hired to help West get on the ballot in Florida and South Carolina. He added that his understanding was that West’s team was “working over weekend there, formalizing the FEC and other things that they’ve got to do when you have a lot of corporate lawyers involved.”

The signature-gathering process was described as ongoing, and Kramer said “we had overwhelming support to get him on the ballot.” He added, “Whether anybody is going to vote for him or not is up to them.” Kramer described the effort as including both paid and volunteer efforts to get signatures. “They got a lot of people who they’ve got both on their volunteer side and their contracted side,” said Kramer.

This all seemed real enough, and I reached out to West’s publicist for a response. The initial response was to loop in another spokesperson on the email. West’s team then went dark. As I waited for a response, I followed up with Kramer who told me, “He’s out.”

Some within Kanye’s inner circle had feared that the rapper was having a bipolar episode at the time of his original tweet.