Here’s how many votes Kanye West got in the US election after running for president
One of the more surprising moments of this year's US election was rapper Kanye West’s announcement that he was to run for the office of president.
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In July, the musician announced his intention to run for president on Twitter, sparking a social media frenzy.
“We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future,” he said. “I am running for president of the United States! #2020VISION.”
But as America continues to tally up the votes in the race between Joe Biden and incumbent president Donald Trump, just how many votes has West managed to secure?
Here is everything you need to know.
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How many votes did Kanye West get?
Despite West’s star appeal, he has failed to even come close to accruing as many votes as the mainstream candidates in the race.
Running as an independent candidate, as of around 5am UK time the rapper had collected 50,000 votes.
That might sound like a lot, but Kanye hasn’t actually made much of a dent in any of the states he was on the ballot for.
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His biggest win was in Tennessee, where he claimed nearly 10,000 votes, just 0.3% of the vote. For comparison’s sake, Trump won Tennessee with 1,794,077 votes, 61.1% of the votes.
Most of the states where Kanye picked up votes were eventually won by Trump, though a handful were picked up by Joe Biden.
Here are the other states that voted for West:
Arkansas (3,461 votes)Colorado (5,455)Idaho (592)Iowa (1,852)Kentucky (6,110)Louisiana (3,818)Mississippi (1,875)Oklahoma (5,265)Utah (3,722)Vermont (1,154)
Why did West run as an independent?
(Photo: Oliver Contreras - Pool/Getty Images)
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To run for president, a lot of preparation and paperwork needs to be done beforehand.
Following his announcement, it appeared West hadn’t taken the steps that would be required for him to run for president.
He had not registered with the Federal Election Commission, presented a campaign platform and collected enough signatures to get on the November ballot.
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He was able to run as an independent having failed to secure the backing of a smaller political party, most of which had chosen their candidates for 2020 by the time West made his announcement.
The rapper eventually qualified to run in 10 states, after spending $6.8 million on his bid, according to official campaign finance reports.
What did Kanye West offer as a candidate?
According to his campaign website, Mr West’s platform included pledges to “restore faith and revive our constitutional commitment to freedom of religion” and “reform the approach to policing in a manner that treats all Americans the same.”
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In a campaign video released last month, the rapper appeared in front of a black and white American flag, with footage and images of families cut in, including his own.
Mr West said: “America. What is America’s destiny? What is best for our nation? Our people? What is just? True justice? We have to think about all these things together as a people. To contemplate our future, to live up to our dream, we must have vision.
“We as a people will revive our nation’s commitment to faith, to what our constitution calls the free exercise of religion, including, of course, prayer. Through prayer, faith can be restored.”
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“Families are the building blocks of society, of a nation. By turning to faith, we will be the kind of nation - the kind of people - God intends us to be."
What’s next for West’s political career?
West hasn’t let his poor performance get him down, and immediately following last night’s vote, suggested he will again run for president in 2024.
He posted a photo of himself next to an electoral map filled with Republican and Democrat wins to Twitter, accompanying the image with the word “welp”, and adding, “Kanye 2024”...
A version of this article originally appeared on our sister title, the Scotsman