Tag: Kanye West

GOP-slanted mailers to Minnesotans have tie to Kanye West campaign

Mailers, funded by GOP PAC that worked for West, include ballot application while bashing Joe Biden and Tina Smith. 

A political mailer encouraging Minnesota voters to apply for an absentee ballot and support Republican candidates for president and the U.S. Senate this fall appears to be connected to Kanye West’s bid for president.

The multiple-page mailer is being sent to households across the state from a group called Common Sense Voters of America LLC, an Ohio-based political advocacy group that was registered in June by the same law firm that is working to get West on the Ohio ballot, reports CNN.

Mailers from the group have popped up in Minnesota and Pennsylvania, two key battleground states in this year’s presidential race. Continue reading.

Kanye West campaign in Virginia is accused of deceptive signature gathering

Washington Post logo

Kanye West’s campaign is facing allegations that voters were deceived by signature gatherers circulating paperwork to qualify the rapper-entrepreneur for the Virginia ballot, the latest setback for a stumbling presidential bid that also is facing problems in other states.

Two signed affidavits were submitted Friday to the State Board of Elections from registered voters who said they were duped into signing up to serve as electors for West in Virginia. In a separate account, an Alexandria woman said Saturday that a man tried to obtain her signature on one of West’s petitions under false pretenses.

West has qualified to appear on Virginia’s ballot this fall as an independent presidential candidate, a state elections official said — meeting the requirement for 5,000 petition signatures, at least 200 of them from each congressional district. Continue reading.

Kanye West’s Presidential Campaign Is Both Proceeding and Unraveling

The last 48 hours have presented a series of new challenges for Kanye West’s haphazard campaign for president.

In a span of two days, West was booted from the ballot in five states: Illinois, Montana, Ohio, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. In Illinois, Montana, and West Virginia, it was because he filed an insufficient number of valid signatures. In Wisconsin, it was because West did not file on time. In Ohio, the information and signature on West’s nominating petition and his statement of candidacy did not match those on petitions circulated to be signed.

West has filed in several other states in this week: Louisiana, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Virginia, but it is unclear if he will ultimately qualify to appear on the ballot in all of them. Continue reading.

DFL Party Statement on GOP Attempt to Get Kanye West on the Ballot in Minnesota

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement on the obvious Republican attempt to get Kanye West on the ballot in Minnesota:

“Let’s be clear about what’s happening here: Donald Trump doesn’t think he can win this election fair and square after his failure to contain COVID-19 brought about mass deaths across America and crashed our economy, so his cronies are trying to get Kanye West on the ballot in a pathetic attempt to pull votes from Joe Biden and steal this election for Trump. 

“The DFL Party is reviewing all available options for defending the integrity of our elections.”

Numerous outlets have reported on clear connections between the Republican Party, the Trump campaign, and those seeking to place West on the ballot in various swing states:

Continue reading “DFL Party Statement on GOP Attempt to Get Kanye West on the Ballot in Minnesota”

Kanye West’s presidential bid bolstered by Republican operatives in at least five states

Washington Post logoOne elector trying to get rapper Kanye West on the presidential ballot in Wisconsin is married to a former chairwoman of a Republican county committee and was photographed with President Trump at his inaugural.

In Arkansas, a Republican operative who signed West’s ballot petition was at one point interviewed to be Trump’s campaign manager for his 2016 bid.

And West’s ballot petition in Ohio was signed by a lawyer who has previously represented state Republican campaign committees. Continue reading.

GOP operatives push to get Kanye West on the presidential ballot: reports

AlterNet logoIn 2018 and 2019, Kanye West was President Donald Trump’s most prominent supporter in the hip-hop community, sometimes inspiring criticism from other rappers who considered the president overtly racist. But on July 4, West tweeted that he planned to run for president — running against Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden in the general election. And according to reporting from the New York Times and CNN, some Republican operatives have been trying to help West get on the presidential ballot in various states.

One of the GOP operatives cited by reporters Maggie Haberman and Danny Hakim in the Times is Mark Jacoby, who they describe as “an executive at a company called Let the Voters Decide.” Jacoby, they note, “has been collecting signatures for the West campaign” in Ohio, West Virginia and Arkansas.

Others Republicans named by Haberman and Hakim include Gregg Keller, former executive director of the American Conservative Union, and Chuck Wilton — who they describe as “a convention delegate for Mr. Trump from Vermont” and “an elector with the West operation who could potentially cast an Electoral College vote for Mr. West.” Continue reading.