Kanye West Isn't Running for President – Yet
The Claim
American rapper Kanye West is running for President of the United States in the 2020 elections.
Emerging story
On July 5, famous American rapper Kanye West claimed that he’s running for the U.S. presidential election via his official Twitter account with the hashtag #2020VISION.
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
— ye (@kanyewest) July 5, 2020
The claim went viral all over the world shortly after, and is still doing rounds by various international media and social media accounts.
Just woke up to the news that Kanye West is running for President and I just want to go back to bed.
— @PAM_BOY (@pam_boy) July 5, 2020
Kanye West is running for president, and I am personally shocked that a wealthy celebrity with no political experience and close ties to reality TV could think they’d get elected.
— Byron Kaye (@byronkaye) July 5, 2020
I'm not sure what's more disturbing: 1. The fact that Kanye West is running for president.
— J. Brandon Johnson (@johnsonjoeb) July 5, 2020
2. He's better than Trump.
3. He can and will legitimately take votes away from Biden and not from Trump.
Like it or not, Biden can't run solely on "not being Trump" anymore.
Kanye West is running for president and he announced that his running mate will be a Confederate statue.
— Dave Matt (@davematt88) July 5, 2020
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar's investigation found that the claim has misled people. Some believe West's unofficial announcement means he is not actually running for president, while some believe his campaign is legitimate. Even though West claimed he’s running for president in 2020, there is no evidence that he took any actual steps to do so, such as filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
There is however a candidate in the FEC’s database since 2015 named Kanye Deez Nutz West, but it’s apparently a satirical candidate who did not raise any funds and used satirical addresses and aliases.
While West can still (theoretically) file with the FEC, the Independent candidate filing deadlines have already passed in New York, North Carolina, New Mexico and Indiana. He is still eligible to register in states such as Florida and Michigan.
It is unclear whether West is really intending to run for 2020 elections, if he’s going to register and work on getting his name on ballots, or just appear as a write-in candidate. So far, though, he is not actually running.
