West conceded his campaign on November 4, 2020, the morning afterElection Day, after receiving roughly 70,000 votes in the 12 states in which he had ballot access. In these states, West ranked 4th (5th inColorado,Minnesota andVermont) in terms of statewide vote count, receiving the sixth-highest national vote count for a presidential candidate, as well as the highest vote count for anunaffiliated candidate that year.[8][9] West expressed interest in running again in 2024 on the same day.[8][9][10][11]
His2024 presidential election run was announced in November 2022, when West confirmed the launch of his campaign while answeringpaparazzi questions; he failed to substantiate with a party affiliation, although his voter registration isRepublican. Within the following weeks, he appeared on interviews and podcasts with political figures includingAlex Jones,Tim Pool, andProud Boys founderGavin McInnes, often accompanied byfar-right white supremacistNick Fuentes. Many statements made by West became widely regarded asantisemitic, leading him to be widely condemned and censured by themass media—to a degree unprecedented in his career. Furthermore, many brands and entities affiliated with West subsequently dissociated with his involvement or likeness.[12][13] In March 2023, West retracted the statements he made about the Jewish community after claiming to have seenJonah Hill's performance in the film21 Jump Street, and the following December, he further apologized in a more formal manner.[14] Throughout 2023, the campaign had been largely stagnant, and in October, a lawyer for West declared on his behalf that he is not actively a candidate.[15][16]
In July 2020, West stated that the idea for his campaign occurred when he was offered theMichael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the2015 MTV Video Music Awards (VMA). While showering in his then mother-in-lawKris Jenner's home, West was writing a rap song and thought of the lyric "you're going to run for president". He started laughing hysterically at the thought of including a presidential announcement in his acceptance speech, along with disparaging remarks about award shows.[21] On August 30, 2015, West, after an introduction byTaylor Swift, announced during his VMA acceptance speech that he would be running for president in 2020.[18] The following month, on September 24, West reaffirmed toVanity Fair that he was considering a 2020 presidential run.[23]
In December 2015, he mentioned his presidential run on his song "Facts".[24] In November 2016, West announced that he supported U.S. presidentDonald Trump.[25] On December 13, 2016, West met with thenPresident-elect Trump andIvanka Trump.[26] After meeting with Trump, West implied that he would be running in 2024 instead.[27] When Trump was stillrunning for the Republican nomination, he was asked about running against Kanye and responded, "You know what? I will never say bad about him, you know why? Because he loves Trump!" Though he added, "Now, maybe in a few years I will have to run against him, I don't know. So I'll take that back".[28]
West meeting with then-President Trump in October 2018
In October 2018, West met with Trump at theOval Office where he gave praise to the president.[34] That same month, West announced he would be taking a break from politics after a falling out with Owens.[35] The following month, West's then wifeKim Kardashian stated that he supported Trump's personality but had no understanding of his policies.[36]
In an October 2019 interview with New Zealand radio hostZane Lowe, West declared that he would one day be the U.S. president.[37] In November 2019, an audience laughed when West stated that he would run for president in 2024. He stated that manufacturing for his Yeezy brand would move to the United States, adding that "we would've created so many jobs that I'm not going to run [for president in 2024], I'm going to walk."[38][39] In January 2020, West toldGQ that he would be voting during the election cycle and that "we know who I'm voting on."[40]
West announced his campaign onIndependence Day via Twitter, writing "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".[41][42] West's campaign announcement went viral, receiving over 100,000 retweets and "Kanye" became the number one trending term in the United States.[43] Various sources questioned whether West was truly running for president or not,[44] as his announcement came after the filing deadlines to run for amajor party in all 50 states and mostprimary elections.[d] However, there is no official deadline to have a candidate registered with theFederal Election Commission (FEC).[45][e] On July 7, West argued that he could gain access to appear on ballots beyond their deadline, using complications caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic as precedent.[21]
On July 5, West tweeted a photograph of dome-like personal shelters with the caption "YZY SHLTRS in process". The structures are similar to theprefabricatedsubsidized housing prototypes West built in August 2019 (inspired by settlements onTatooine fromStar Wars) inCalabasas, California, which had to be torn down as a result of lacking proper permits with theLos Angeles County Department of Public Works.[48] The shelters are designed to be used as housing units forhomeless people.[49] On July 7,Entertainment Tonight reported that West was allegedly "telling people close to him that his announcement of running for president is serious".[50] That same day, Trump toldRealClearPolitics that he was watching the campaign intently, saying it could serve as a trial run for West if he were to run again in 2024.[51] The FEC began investigating fictitious filings under West's name.[52]
West's candidacy was covered byForbes on July 8. West stated that he would make the final decision to run within 30 days and denied the accusations that his campaign was all merely promotion for his then forthcoming tenth studio albumDonda. He revealed his two campaign advisors were his wifeKim Kardashian andSpaceX andTesla, Inc. CEO,Elon Musk. West also stated that he proposed to Musk that he would "be the head of our space program". West registered to vote for the first time within the previous week and selected Michelle Tidball, a relatively unknownChristian preacher fromWyoming, as hisrunning mate.[53] West stated that he would run under the Birthday Party, because "when we win, it's everybody's birthday", and that he was running for president as a service toGod.[21][54][55]
Musk reacted to theForbes piece by tweeting, "We may have more differences of opinion than I anticipated". He later deleted his tweet.[56][57] On July 9, Trump downplayed West's recent criticism of him, stating that West and Kardashian were "always going to be for us". Trump speculated that West would likely support him because the "radical left" needed to be stopped.[58] The same day, West tweeted a video of himself registering to vote for the first time at thePark County Clerk's Office inCody, Wyoming. In the video, West discussed with an office employee about changing the difficulties ofvoter registration in the United States.[59]
Mark Jacoby's company Let The Voters Decide was hired by West to manage the petitions drives around the nation to put West on the ballot for president. Let The Voters Decide is the premiere company in the US for managing petitioners.[f]
On July 14, Ben Jacobs ofIntelligencer reported that a source stated on July 8 that they were paid $5,000 to collect signatures on West's behalf in Florida. They needed to collect 132,781 valid signatures before a July 15 deadline for West to qualify on the ballot as a third-party candidate. The following day, voter turnout specialist Steve Kramer told Jacobs that he had been hired to get West on the ballot in South Carolina and Florida. Kramer stated that at the time, 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." Kramer followed-up with Jacobs and stated that he had to fire his 180-person staff, made up of paid personnel and volunteers, because West was "out".[72]
On July 15, a Statement of Organization (Form 1) was filed with the FEC. The filing declared a "Kanye 2020" campaign committee with West running as a presidential candidate under the Birthday Party.[73][74] The filing listed a property bought by West in October 2019 as its address, along with an inactive website and phone number.[74] West notarized an Oklahoma statement of candidacy while in Miami and had a representative pay a $35,000 filing fee on the day of the state's deadline.[75] TheOklahoma State Election Board later announced that West qualified to appear on the general election ballot as an independent candidate.[76] The following day, West filed a Statement of Candidacy (Form 2) with the FEC, indicating that $5,000 has been raised or spent in campaign-related expenses. Form 2 grants West candidacy status under federal campaign laws.[77]
On July 17, West tweeted out a form for collecting digital signatures from South Carolinians so that he could qualify as an independent candidate in the state; the deadline to collect 10,000 signatures was July 20. The campaign set up nine locations nearCharleston, South Carolina, to collect signatures in-person, with West sharing the list of locations through Twitter. The petition locations ran from July 18 to 19.[78] West held his first campaign event at Exquis Event Center inNorth Charleston, South Carolina, on July 19.[79] West wore abulletproof vest, spoke without a microphone, and called on audience members to speak. During the speech, West criticized American abolitionistHarriet Tubman and claimed that she did not free the slaves, but instead had the slaves go work for other white people. He emphasized the issue ofabortion, and cried describing his father's plan to abort him as anunborn baby, and briefly mentioned that he andhis wife had planned to abort his eldest daughter,North.[80] He also discussed his opposition to gun control, his support for theLGBT community, and finding a way to fix drug addiction caused byhealth care.[81]
In an interview with Kris Kaylin of Charleston radio stationWWWZ, West outlined the ten principles of his campaign and stated that he asked fellow rapperJay-Z if he wanted to replace Tidball as his running mate.[82] The South Carolina Election Commission confirmed on July 20 that West failed to submit his petition on time.[83] On July 22, West tweeted that he may postpone his presidential run to 2024, though he subsequently deleted it.[84]
The withdrawn New Jersey petition had several signatures in a row with identical lowercase I's dotted with circles.[85]
On July 20, the campaign filed West as an independent candidate in Illinois, where West's childhood home city of Chicago is located, four minutes before the submission deadline.[86][87] Three objections were filed, all from the Chicago area, and one of which had five individual objectors.[87] August 21 was set as the deadline to verify if the campaign has submitted the minimum 2,500 valid signatures that are required for ballot access.[86]On August 7, 2020, Illinois election officials released a statement saying Kanye West only had 1,200 valid signatures, 1,300 short of qualifying for ballot access.[88]
On July 27, the campaign submitted its petition signatures in Missouri just before the deadline.[89] West also filed as a candidate in New Jersey.[90] Former Democraticcongressional candidate in 2018 and attorney, Scott Salmon, challenged West's signature submissions in New Jersey on July 29. Salmon alleged several signatures were written by the same person, stating, "[t]he odds that 30 people in a row from all over the state would have a little circle about the Is is a little hard to believe".[85] The campaign withdrew its New Jersey petition on August 4.[91]
On July 29,TMZ reported that the campaign was canvassing in New York and West Virginia.[92] On August 3,Intelligencer reported the campaign had begun to expand signature-collecting operations into theswing states of Wisconsin and Ohio, along with Arkansas.[93] Multiple challenges were made to West's petition to appear on the Wisconsin ballot.[94] One such challenge suggested numerous problems with West's nomination papers, including incorrect addresses and fake or fraudulent signatures, such as "Mickey Mouse" and "Bernie Sanders."[94] It also included affidavits from six individuals who said they were duped into putting their names on West's paperwork.[94] A lawyer for the campaign responded to the missed deadline allegation by blamingiPhone clocks for being "notoriously faulty".[95] West accused the Democratic Party of hiring a private investigator to follow his signature collectors as part of an "organized effort of harassment and intimidation".[96]
On August 7, 2020, it became mathematically impossible for the campaign to get the required number of electoral votes for West to win the presidency.[97]
On August 20, 2020, election officials inWisconsin andMontana decided that West was not eligible to appear on their state ballots. A day later, officials inOhio,Illinois andWest Virginia ruled that he did not qualify either for their respective ballots.[98] On the contrary, West has qualified to appear on the ballot in at leastArkansas,Colorado,Oklahoma,Utah andVermont, according to spokespersons for the election offices in those states. A spokesman for the Iowa secretary of state's office said West's nominating petitions have been accepted in that state but are still subject to objections.[98]
Numerous Republican Party members have been involved in the campaign's organization and petition.[99] Gregg Keller, the former executive director of theAmerican Conservative Union and worker forMitt Romney andJosh Hawley, was listed as West's point of contact when he filed inArkansas. Lane Ruhland, who had served as legal counsel for theRepublican Party of Wisconsin, was filmed dropping off the signatures to qualify West for the state ballot to the state elections commission.[100][101] InVirginia, West's campaign gives the address of the law firm Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky, whose managing partner is state senatorJill Holtzman Vogel. InWisconsin, West's legal advocate had been secretary-treasurer of the Minnesota Republican party.[102]
InVermont, West submitted threepresidential electors which included Chuck Wilton, aVermont delegate to the2020 Republican National Convention. Wilton was later replaced by Bradford Broyles, the former chairman of theRutland CountyRepublican Party, as a presidential elector for West. In Colorado, four of the nine presidential electors for West were Republican operatives.[100][101] In Tennessee, West submitted twelve presidential electors which included Rick Williams, a Tennessee delegate to the2016 Republican National Convention who had supported Trump and served as director of Middle Tennessee for Trump.[103]
West met with Trump's senior advisorJared Kushner in Colorado to have a discussion on "black empowerment," while ostensibly running against Donald Trump.[104]
In December 2021,The Daily Beast reported that West's 2020 presidential campaign received millions of dollars in services from a secret network of Republican operatives, some of these payments the committee did not report, and used an unusual abbreviation for the others to allegedly conceal the association with the GOP according to campaign finance experts.[108][109]
On August 18, West tweeted a promotional poster for his campaign.[110] It features pictures of diverse people, in between the phrase "Kanye 2020 Vision". An image ofKirsten Dunst is featured prominently, prompting the actress to reply, "What's the message here, and why am I apart [sic] of it?"[111]
West debuted his first official campaign video on October 12, in which he emphasized religious freedom and family values as core issues to his candidacy.[112]
West raised $14,538,989.74 on his presidential campaign, loaning $12,473,002.99 of his own money to his campaign and raising $2,064,715.66 from individual contributions. He spent $13,210,013.02 and has $250,000.00 in outstanding debts with $1,328,976.72 of ending cash in hand.[113][114][115]
In April 2021, a document obtained byCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington showed that theOffice of Government Ethics was refusing to certify West's financial returns. According to CREW's communications director Jordan Libowitz, this was likely because West declined to fully disclose his wife Kim Kardashian's income and assets by using a rare exemption when the candidate has no knowledge of such income and assets. Libowitz also pointed out West's failure to disclose information about three trusts he was a trustee for, and that any penalties were unlikely to be substantial.[116]
In December 2021,The Daily Beast reported that Kanye's presidential campaign received millions of dollars in services from a secret network of Republican Party operatives, including Republican elite advisors and a managing partner at one of the largest conservative political firms in the United States. The Kanye campaign committee also did not report having paid some of these advisors and used an abbreviation for another advisor, constituting a potential violation of federal laws. According to campaign finance experts, these actions were done in an attempt to hide any connections between Kanye's presidential campaign and Republican operatives.[117][118]
On July 4, Jack Dolan of theLos Angeles Times speculated that West's presidential campaign "might be part of an effort to draw Black supporters away fromJoe Biden to help Trump."[131] However, Andrew Solender ofForbes wrote that available polling data suggested that, if anything, West's run would likely hurt Trump rather than Biden.[132]
On July 7, West stated that he was okay withsplitting off black voters from theDemocratic Party.[21] Trump stated on July 11 that it "shouldn't be hard" for West to siphon black voters from Biden.[133] In his South Carolina rally, West stated that "the most racist thing that's ever been said out loud" was the idea that he would split black voters.[134] On August 6, when asked if he intended to damage Biden's campaign, he stated, "I'm not denying it."[135]
Several publications, includingPolitico,The Guardian, andForbes, questioned whether West's campaign was a legitimate effort or a publicity stunt.[136][137][138] West disputed allegations that his campaign was promotion for his music in July 2020.[21]
Multiple Republican operatives assisted West in his attempts to make the presidential ballots of multiple states, including convention delegates for incumbent U.S. president Donald Trump.[139] Lane Ruhland, a Republican lawyer and former general counsel for theWisconsin Republican Party, personally delivered West's nominating papers to state regulators past the state's statutory filing deadline.[140] The connections raised questions about the aims of the entertainer's campaign, and whether it was genuine in its sincerity or intended to act as aspoiler and aid Trump'sreelection bid.[141][142] Trump denied any personal involvement with aiding the campaign, stating, "I like Kanye very much, but no, I have nothing to do with him getting on the ballot. We'll have to see what happens."[143]John Avlon ofCNN compared the campaign's association with several Republicans to that of alleged Republican efforts to bolster the2004 presidential campaign ofRalph Nader.[144]
On October 20, former child actor and independent presidential candidateBrock Pierce invited West to a third-party presidential debate in Wyoming.[145] West did not respond publicly to the invite.
Presidential ballot access requirements submitted but withdrawn, dismissed, or denied (nine states, 104 electoral votes): Arizona,[166] Illinois,[167] Missouri,[168] Montana,[169] New Jersey,[170] Wisconsin,[171] Ohio,[172] Virginia,[173] and West Virginia.[174]
Presidential ballot access deadline missed (29 states + the District of Columbia, 350 electoral votes): Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.[1]
On August 5, 2020, West submitted his presidential petition in Ohio with 14,886 signatures, more than the 5,000 required.[175] However, theSecretary of State of Ohio rejected his petition stating that the original declaration of candidacy did not match the copies used on each petition sheet.[176] On August 26, West filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of State to theSupreme Court of Ohio to get onto the ballot, but the Ohio Supreme Court ruled 7–0 on September 10, that West would not appear on the ballot.[177][178]
When West submitted his presidential petitions in Wisconsin multiple witnesses alleged that he was eighteen seconds past the 5:00 p.m. deadline.[179] A challenge to West's petitions was filed.[180] On August 19, the staff of theWisconsin Elections Commission recommended that West be removed from the ballot, and on August 20, the commission voted to remove West from the ballot.[181][182] West filed a lawsuit after being removed from the ballot.[183] On September 10, theWisconsin Supreme Court ordered election officials to stop mailing out ballots until the court ruled on whether or notHowie Hawkins and/or West could appear on the ballot.[184] On September 11,Brown County Circuit Judge John Zakowski ruled that the election commission was correct to remove West from the ballot.[185][186]
On September 14, 2020, a U.S. District Judge in West Virginia struck down West's challenge to appear on the West Virginia ballot.[187]
Lawsuits were filed to keep West off the ballot in Virginia,[188] Arizona,[189] and Idaho.[190] On September 3, 2020, aRichmond, Virginia, judge ordered that Kanye West's name not appear on the Virginia ballot,[173] and aMaricopa County, Arizona, judge ordered that Kanye West's name not appear on the Arizona ballot.[166] West appealed the decision, but the decision became final after it was confirmed byArizona Supreme Court on September 8.[191] West also appealed the Virginia decision to the Virginia Supreme Court.[192] On September 17, 2020, the Virginia Supreme Court rejected West's appeal to appear on the ballot.[193]
An attempt was made to remove West from the Idaho presidential ballot on the grounds that West could not run as an independent candidate while registered as a Republican.[194] However,Lawerence Denney, theSecretary of State of Idaho, stated that West would remain on the ballot.[195] TheIdaho Democratic Party filed a lawsuit to remove West from the ballot on the basis that he cannot run as an independent because he is registered as a Republican.[196]
Kanye West's performance by state in the 12 states he had ballot access. Legend: 0.2-0.3% 0.3-0.4% 0.4-0.5%Kanye West's performance (rounded to a single decimal place) by county in the 12 states he had ballot access. Legend: 0.0% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.4% 0.5% 0.6% 0.7% 0.8% 0.9% 1.0%+
West received 66,641 votes in the 12 states he had ballot access in, receiving an average of 0.32%; West received the most votes in the state of Tennessee, where he won 10,256 votes. However, percentage-wise, West's best state was in Utah, where he received 0.48%. Additionally, he received 5,072 write-in votes from various states.[ai]
Write-in votes
Kanye West / Michelle Tidball 2020 Results by state
In addition, the Roque De La Fuente / Kanye West ticket won 60,160 votes inCalifornia (0.34%; 5th out of 6). The winner wasJoe Biden (D).
West's voters base varied among education levels, age, race, gender, and partisanship. However his voters were more likely to be religious on average.[271] Had West won he would've been the first elected President to have been a professional musician.[272]
On the morning of November 4, 2020,[277] West conceded in a tweet that read "WELP KANYE 2024 🕊".[278][279] In August 2021, West issuedDonda merchandise including a "$200 layered t-shirt that features both the presidential seal and the numbers '2024'".[280] On November 20, 2022, West confirmed his candidacy for the presidency in 2024 while answeringpaparazzi questions, also revealing that far-right commentatorMilo Yiannopoulos[281] and live streamerSneako[276] were working for his campaign.
Within a few days after his announcement, West visitedDonald Trump atMar-a-Lago, along with political advisor Karen Giorno andfar-right commentatorNick Fuentes, awhite nationalist andHolocaust denier.[282][283][284] On November 24, West released a video in which he stated that Trump began screaming at him and telling him that he was going to lose after West asked Trump to be his vice-presidential candidate, stating:[285]
When Trump started basically screaming at me at the table telling me I was going to lose — I mean has that ever worked for anyone in history. I'm like hold on, hold on, hold on, Trump, you're talking to Ye.[285]
In response, Trump released a statement that after contacting him earlier in the week to arrange the visit, West "unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about", with whom Trump dined, and that "the dinner was quick and uneventful".[282] Trump further elaborated several days later that he met with Kanye to "help a seriously troubled man, who just happens to be black... who has been decimated in his business and virtually everything else".[286] Trump also stated that he told West, "don't run for office, a total waste of time, can't win".[287]
On November 28, 2022, YouTuber and political commentatorTim Pool interviewed West, Fuentes, and Yiannopoulos regarding West's campaign.[288] Pool showed West an article posted aboutMike Pence saying that Trump was wrong for allowing anti-Semitic people to eat with him at dinner, and demanding that he apologize.[287] On December 4, Yiannopoulos announced that he had parted ways with the campaign.[289]
In a December interview with far-right conspiracy theoristAlex Jones, West garnered significant controversy after declaring that he "loves"Adolf Hitler anddenyingthe Holocaust, adding that "I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis".[290][291] Shortly after the interview, West went on to tweet a photo of aswastika intertwined with aStar of David resulting in his second suspension fromTwitter.[292] As of July 2023[update], his account has been reinstated. On December 5, 2022, far-right commentator andProud Boys founderGavin McInnes interviewed West alongsideNick Fuentes, with West saying that Hitler's reputation was crafted "byJews". West further stated in the interview that society needed to be restructured around aChristian government, and that the media in the United States needed to be controlled by Christians, saying, "If you don't believe inJesus Christ you are wrong."[293]
Lori Kauffman, who worked on West's 2020 presidential campaign, ran for public office inBoston, Massachusetts as a Republican. She was formally condemned by the state's party for various offensive comments, such as calling for the exile of the Jews (despite being raised Jewish herself) and expressing admiration of Hitler.[294]
In West's 2025 song "WW3", West raps he "voted for Trump, not Biden", without referencing his own run.
West's platform advocated for the creation of aculture of life, endorsingenvironmental stewardship, supporting the arts, buttressingfaith-based organizations, restoringschool prayer, providing for a strong national defense, and "America First" diplomacy. His 10-point policy agenda was listed under the headline "Creating a Culture of Life," and featured a Bible verse for each item.[2] Being in support of aconsistent life ethic, a tenet ofChristian democracy political ideology, Westopposes abortion andcapital punishment.[3] West stated in July 2020 that he would run for president under the banner of the newly formed Birthday Party, but had Trump not been running, he would have affiliated himself with the Republican Party.[21]
At a July rally in South Carolina, West stated abortion should be legal because "the law is not by God anyway". However, he proposed giving every mother that does not abort their child a financial incentive, using "$1 million or something in that range" as an example. He did not disclose how he would pay for such incentives.[80]
In November 2016, West told black people to "stop focusing on racism", but clarified that his support for Trump did not mean he did not "believe inBlack Lives Matter."[297] In June 2020, West participated in theGeorge Floyd protests and donated $2million to help victims of the rioting that took place during demonstrations. He also paid off Floyd's daughter'scollege tuition.[298][299] The following month, West stated that one of his priorities would be to endpolice brutality, adding that "[the] police are people too".[21]
In September 2018, West called for the alteration of theThirteenth Amendment because of a loophole that suggests it is legal to enslave convicts.[307] During a meeting with Trump the following month, West called the Thirteenth Amendment a "trap door".[308] In October 2019, West stated during a performance with theSunday Service Choir that people were too busy discussing music and sports instead of focusing on a broken system that he claims imprisons "one in three African-Americans...in this country."[309] The following month, West alleged that the media calls him "crazy" to silence his opinion, connecting this to the incarceration of African-Americans and celebrities.[46] On his albumJesus Is King (2019), West discussed the Thirteenth Amendment,mass incarceration, criticized theprison–industrial complex, and connectedthree-strikes laws to slavery.[310][311][312]In 2020, West said he was againstcapital punishment.[3][313]
In May 2018, West espoused the "Democratic plantation" theory thatwelfare is a tool used by the Democratic Party to keep black Americans as an underclass that remains reliant on the party.[314] During a September 2018 special guest appearance onSaturday Night Live, after the show had already gone off the air, West alleged to the crowd that it was a Democratic Party plan "to take the fathers out [of] the home and promote welfare."[315][316]
The following month, West alleged thathomicide was a byproduct of a "welfare state" that destroyed black families.Jelani Cobb challenged West's claim inThe New Yorker (at least as much as it applied to Chicago), arguing that "the catalysts for violence in that city predate the 'welfare state' and the rise of single-parent black households, in the nineteen-seventies." He pointed to findings fromChicago Commission on Race Relations regarding the violence of theChicago race riots of 1919 and a 1945 study entitledBlack Metropolis, published by sociologistsSt. Clair Drake andHorace Cayton, which Cobb wrote, "detailed the ways in which discrimination in housing and employment were negatively affecting black migrants." He also noted similar observations made byW. E. B. Du Bois inPhiladelphia, in 1903.[317]
^At the time of his announcement, the only presidential candidate in the FEC database named Kanye West was a parodyGreen Party candidate named "Kanye Deez Nutz West", who filed in 2015.[46][47]
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