Here's How Many People Actually Voted For Kanye West
While we still don't know who is the winner of the 2020 presidential election — incumbent Donald Trump or challenger Joe Biden — there is one thing that is absolutely certain: It is not Kanye West.
The 43-year-old rapper first officially launched his campaign back on July 4, with a rally at the Exquis Event Center in Charleston, South Carolina. Given his extremely late-in-the-game presidential bid, it was an uphill climb for West to land on states' ballots, ultimately only qualifying for 12 — not enough states to meet the 270 electoral college vote threshold needed to win the presidency (via NPR). Those states included Tennessee, Colorado, and Mississippi, and Oklahoma, where West paid an extra $35,000 to ensure his name would appear on the ballot (via ABC News)
All told, the Federal Election Commission reported that West spent $10.3 million on his campaign. And in the days leading to the election, was polling at 0%, per Ipsos/Reuters (via NPR).
Exactly how many votes did Kanye West really get?
West managed to garner 60,000 total votes in the 12 states where he was a presidential candidate (via Deadline). According to preliminary tallies, he yielded at least 1,000 votes in each state, garnering most of all (6,000 votes) in Colorado, a state that ultimately was called for Joe Biden. In Arkansas, West got 3,979 votes; in Idaho, 2,309; in Iowa, 3,179; in Kentucky, 6,259; in Louisiana, 4,837; in Minnesota, 6,796; in Mississippi, 3,009; in Oklahoma, 5,587; in Tennessee, 10,188; and in Utah, 4,053 votes (via New York Post).
While we can't be sure exactly who cast 59,999 of those votes, we know without any doubt that one of them came from West himself. "God is so good ... Today I am voting for the first time in my life for the President of the United States, and it's for someone I truly trust ... me," West tweeted on Election Day.
Unfortunately for West, when it became clear the race would come down to Biden and Trump, he conceded. However, West is already setting his sights on the next presidential race, posting: "KANYE 2024."