Kanye West is reportedly dropping his 2020 presidential ambitions less than two weeks after announcing his bid for office. The rapper, who announced he would be entering the November race for president alongside Donald Trump and Joe Biden in a July 4 tweet, told election strategist Steve Kramer that he was out of the running, New York Magazine reported Tuesday.
Kramer was one of the campaign staffers Wes hired to help get his name on the ballot in states like Florida and South Carolina, having missed the deadline for six other states, according to the publication. Kramer said just last week 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,” adding that they had “overwhelming support” to get the fashion designer on the ballot in those states.
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Last week, however, questions about West’s campaign asked by the magazine to West’s publicists began to go unanswered around the time the rapper tweeted and deleted a photo of a fetus at the six-month mark of gestation with the caption “these souls deserve to live.” Following the radio silence from West’s camp, Kramer told the magazine, “He’s out.” Asked what had changed to get West to drop out of his presidential campaign, Kramer said, “I’ll let you know what I know once I get all our stuff canceled. We had over 180 people out there today.”
On Thursday, Kramer said there were no hard feelings for West after he decided to end his bid for office. “I have nothing good or bad to say about Kanye,” he said. “Everyone has their personal decision about why they make decisions. Running for president has to be one of the hardest things for someone to actually contemplate at that level.”
West’s campaign was short-lived but made headlines due to several of the more off-the-wall aspects of his platform. In a Forbes interview published last week, the musician said he was “taking the red hat off” in regards to his prior support for Trump and starting his own party for 2020, “the Birthday Party.” Asked why his party would be named that, West explained, “Because when we win, it’s everybody’s birthday.” When asked if him throwing his hat in the ring so late was a serious attempt to gain office, West assured, “Like anything I’ve ever done in my life, I’m doing to win.”
