Kanye West’s 2020 presidential campaign has reportedly ended shortly after it began. In a New York Magazine article published on Tuesday (July 14), a member of Kanye’s campaign team named Steve Kramer reportedly told the outlet, “He’s out.”
Kramer, who is president of voter turnout effort Get Out The Vote, informed New York Magazine that ‘Ye had assembled a campaign team based in Florida of over 180 people. According to the outlet, Kramer was hired by Kanye to help get him on the Florida and South Carolina ballots.
In order to be placed on the Florida ballot, Kanye needed 132,781 signatures from state voters. The deadline to be placed on the ballot was today (July 15).
“We had overwhelming support to get him on the ballot,” Kramer said. “Whether anybody is going to vote for him or not is up to them.” He added that the effort included paid team members and campaign volunteers.
“They got a lot of people who they’ve got both on their volunteer side and their contracted side,” he said.
Kramer told the outlet he was unsure why Kanye decided to pull the plug on his presidential campaign, except that “any candidate running for president for the first time goes through these hiccups.”
“I have nothing good or bad to say about Kanye. Everyone has their personal decision about why they make decisions,” he said. “Running for president has to be one of the hardest things for someone to actually contemplate at that level.”
When he spoke with Forbes about his campaign plan, Kanye mentioned a possibility of running in 2024.
“Let’s see if the appointing is at 2020 or if it’s 2024—because God appoints the president,” he said. “If I win in 2020 then it was God’s appointment. If I win in 2024 then that was God’s appointment.”