American rapper Kanye West has reportedly dropped out of the U.S. presidential race less than two weeks after announcing his intention to run for president.
It would be recalled that the 21-time Grammy winner on July 4 revealed his plans to join the race on Twitter, saying;
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! #2020VISION.
Read Also: Rapper Kanye West Announces 2020 US Presidential Run
In a turn of events, West’s presidential quest has now reportedly now been canceled.
According to a report in New York Magazine’s Intelligencer, West hired campaign staff who were looking into getting his name listed as a third-party candidate in Florida and several other states, but he needed to collect 132,781 signatures by Wednesday July 15 to be eligible to run in Florida.
Steve Kramer, an election strategist hired by West to focus on getting his name on the ballot in Florida and South Carolina, told the publication that ‘he’s out’ of the 2020 race.
Kramer clarified that his bid was serious and there were 180 people working in the ground in Florida before they decided to call off the effort.
The 43-year-old entrepreneur has however not publicly commented on whether his run for the presidency is continuing
The election strategist did not state West’s reasons for allegedly withdrawing, but said;
I will let you [Intelligencer] know what I know once I get all our stuff cancelled. I have nothing good or bad to say about Kanye. 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.
Kramer also added that he believed West’s campaign team were ‘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.’
He said they had overwhelming support to get him on the ballot and that ‘whether anybody is going to vote for him or not is up to them.’
Kramer added;
Any candidate running for president for the first time goes through these hiccups.
This comes a day after a US presidential poll revealed that Kanye West had the support of just 2% of voters.
Redfield & Wilton Strategies polled 2,000 registered voters in the US last week to gauge the country’s current voting intentions.
Joe Biden came on top with 48%, while the incumbent Donald Trump polled 39%.
