- Welp. Kanye West has conceded defeat in the 2020 US election.
- The rapper, who only made one campaign appearance, secured nearly 60 000 votes.
- The celebrity has already hinted that he’ll try again in 2024.
UPDATE: Joe Biden beat Donald Trump at the polls to be named president-elect on Saturday, 7 November 2020.
In case you forgot, Kanye West also ran for president of the United States.
The 43-year-old, who entered the race in July, appeared on ballots in only 12 states.
By Wednesday afternoon, while the race for president was still hotly contested, Kanye conceded defeat with nearly 60 000 votes.
"Welp, Kanye 2024," he tweeted followed by a dove of peace emoji. He later deleted the tweet and replaced it with a similar message but this time without the word "welp" - typically used to express resignation or disappointment.
On Tuesday Kanye, still optimistic, tweeted that he would be voting for the first time in his life and it would for someone he "truly trusts". Himself.
Kanye only made one campaign appearance in Charleston, South Carolina in July. During the event he wore a bulletproof vest and burst into tears as he made several controversial statements that nearly cost him his marriage to wife Kim Kardashian West.
Kanye was not on the ballot in South Carolina.
The poll results now show that his biggest support came from Tennessee, where he managed to secure 10 188 votes.
The rapper famously donned the MAGA (Make America Great Again) red cap when he visited Trump at the White House in 2018. The unconventional meetup between the music mogul and the 45th US president raised eyebrows as Trump proclaimed: "Kanye has been a friend of mine for a long time."
Kanye added: "You know, they tried to scare me to not wear this hat – my own friends. But this hat, it gives me – it gives me power, in a way."
However, when the rapper announced his 2020 presidential run, he proclaimed in an interview with Forbes that he no longer supported Trump, saying: "I am taking the red hat off, with this interview."
But The New York Times reported at the time that "Republican activists in at least half a dozen states are deeply involved in the effort to get Kanye West's name before voters, renewing questions about the aim of his campaign."
The rapper's presence on the ballot was seen as a tool to potentially divert votes away from the Democrats in favour of the Republicans in swing states. Known as a "third-party defection", Kanye's influence in some states could take votes away from Biden, just like third parties helped Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
According to The New York Times, Trump used the same tactic during his 2016 campaign.
Political scientist and election forecaster Rachel Bitecofer warned in an article in Rolling Stone that "because of what happened in 2016 and with Trump not gaining in popularity, it is more than likely that his campaign would be eager to have West on as many ballots as possible to again have third-party votes hand him a victory".
In an interview via text with Randall Lane from Forbes earlier this year, Kanye confirmed "he was in fact running to siphon votes from the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden".
When asked his thoughts on causing possible damage to Biden's White House chances, Kanye said: "I'm not denying it; I just told you."
When the media questioned Trump about whether he has had a hand in assisting Kanye's Birthday Party in its presidential run, Trump answered: "I like Kanye very much," adding, "No, I have nothing to do with him getting on the ballot. We'll have to see what happens."
Here is how he fared in each, with vote counts according to the Associated Press:
Arkansas: 4040
Colorado: 6,127
Idaho: 3092
Iowa: 3,197
Kentucky: 6,259
Louisiana: 4,894
Minnesota: 7654
Mississippi: 3,117
Oklahoma: 5,590T
Tennessee: 10,195
Utah: 4,311
Vermont: 1,255
(Sources: AP, Business Insider, Forbes, The New York Times, Rolling Stone)