He told federal regulators he had passed the first deadline to say how he was using campaign money and was only hitting the campaign trial for one rally once. But in Arizona, in one of the last remaining constituencies of the president where he may still qualify for the ballot, signatures are being collected in the Western campaign.
In Ohio, Kurt Hartmann, a Cincinnati lawyer representing the West in the lawsuit filed this week in the campaign to get the Ohio vote, served as a delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention and is a Republican nominee for the county’s judicial seat. Hartman did not respond to messages.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRoze has concluded that West’s nomination application and statement of candidacy do not match the petitions signed by voters.
And, despite state officials rejecting West’s efforts to gain entry into the November ballot, the West’s campaign continues to push for ballot entry.
The signature-collecting students with the West campaign arrived on the campus of Arizona State University this week at the presidential battlefield in Arizona, where candidates faced a September deadline. In an interview with CNN, a student called a worker insolent when asked about a candidate’s identity.
Western Expedition did not respond to interview requests this week
Trump campaign aides have denied any attempts to coordinate with the West, which fiercely backed Trump before announcing his own bid in July.
Trump told reporters earlier this month, “I like Kanye very much, but added:” No, I have nothing to do with getting him on the ballot. We have to see what we have to see. “
The tricks were questioned
West has either lost the deadline, has not filed or has denied its application in 33 states and Washington DC.
Arizona State Law Student Matt Ren told CNN he was approached earlier this week by a signature collector as he walked to class in Phoenix.
Ren said when he asked what the signature was for, the man simply said he would help get an independent candidate to vote in Arizona.
After several follow-up questions from Dane Hype House founder Kon Ren, who is the center for liberal discourse on ticket ok, Ren said the activist described the first application as helping Tidb helping Lane before finally accepting a ticket with Tidb West.
Ren said he refused to sign and walked away, but Canvasser chased him, saying that while the West was unlikely to win, his presence on the ballot could help snatch the “reality star vote” from Trump.
“He really buried the lead with the whole Kane thing,” Ren told CNN. “It didn’t happen until I pressed him several times, at which point he said it’s for Kanye West.”
“At least, that’s pretty dubious.”
Ren said several of his classmates were also contacted this week to sign petitions.
Likely to backfire
Despite the pitch of sales by signature collectors in Arizona, most Democratic Party activists and outside observers suspect that even in the western states his name could have much of an impact on the race as long as it appears on the ballot.
In the Ipsos / Reuters poll conducted earlier this month, 2% of registered voters chose the West as their preferred candidate when given the option.
Matt Liebman, chairman of the Democratic group’s Voter Protection Project, told CNN that his organization expects to spend more than million 5 million on efforts to select a voting rights champion this year and boost voter turnout in November. He said the West’s campaign efforts could be flattened – whatever its real purpose.
“Honestly, black voters across the country, they wouldn’t be fooled by this,” Leibman said.
Libman suggested that, as voters get to know the controversies surrounding the West and the G.O.P. Having read and heard more about Shennigans’ allegations, the result could be net-positive for the Biden campaign.
“I think the Kanye West thing can really be helpful in the sense that it brings more focus to the race and people are like, ‘This is just another crazy trick,'” Libman said. “It’s just another mess. It’s more chaos and I think people are tired, they’re fed up with the chaos.”
For some Democrats, there are still fond memories of 2016, when they defeated Trump by popular vote, but lost the presidency, and 2000, when Ralph Nader launched an independent campaign in which many Democrats accused former Vice President Al Gore of backing him. Was. He fears that West’s name on the swing state ballot, if the margins are tight as expected, could attract enough support to tilt the race.
But the political climate in 2020 is very different, said Robert Shapiro, a professor and former president of Columbia University’s Department of Political Science, who said the four-year campaign from the West is unlikely to attract confused voters. Before.
“People were angry and frustrated and so on. Basically, at the moment, there’s more of a kind of wrapping around being anti-Trump or anti-democratic,” Shapiro said. “And anti-Democrats will vote for Trump and anti-Trump people will vote for Democrats, because their anger is that way (directed) and no ordinary anger, where you say, hell with it for both parties.”
Shapiro also drew attention to West’s sporadic political affairs and noted that, with a few exceptions, he did not campaign or engage with voters – in contrast to the more sophisticated and thought-provoking efforts undertaken by Green Party candidates Jill Stein and Gary Johnson. Libertarian candidate in 2016.
“Stan and Johnson, they did the legwork, they put in the time and their supporters put in the time to do what they did. They developed the organizations,” Shapiro said. “The West didn’t do that.”
Criticism of Republican West’s efforts to increase candidacy has also focused on the artist’s mental health. West has said he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In a post on Instagram Stories last month, days after West spoke at a campaign event – a rally in South Carolina – he addressed his wife, Kim Kardashian West, and some of her concerns.
“(Kanye) is a brilliant but complex person who, under the pressure of being an artist and a black man, experienced the painful loss of his mother, and faced the pressures and loneliness exacerbated by his bipolar disorder,” he wrote. Was. “Those who are close to Kanni know his heart and sometimes understand his words do not align with his intentions.”
Anthony Robinson, political director of the National Democratic Training Committee, has accused Republicans of encouraging a campaign to do the West a disservice that will last longer than November.
“Where will Kanye stand at the end of this? Where will culture stand at the end of this? Where will African American voters stand at the end of it?” Said Robbins. “I think it hurts more.”
Missed filing deadline
West’s campaign did not include other presidential contenders who filed campaign reports with the Federal Election Commission on August 20 – showing what increased and costed his campaign in July.
Under federal law, presidential candidates must file monthly reports in an election year if they have spent $ 100,000 or expect to do so during that year, said Paul Ryan, an election law expert who oversees policy and litigation over general law. .
And the West seems to be spending heavily in the beginning.
The Federal Election Commission currently lacks a quorum to take any enforcement action. RJ said it is difficult to prove the expected cost of the campaign, although the agency may submit records to determine whether West has plans for more than the 100,000-threshold by signing contracts for future work such as petition-aggregation in July. .
The biggest legal crisis for the Trump campaign could be if evidence ever comes to light that they worked together with the West to benefit in the presidential election, Ryan said.
“If the Trump campaign tells Kayne West to do these things – get eligible to vote, etc. – then arguably the Trump campaign is illegally seeking a large, cooperative contribution to the Trump campaign in the form of every penny Kanye. The West spends,” he said.
On Friday, Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtuf responded: “We don’t know what Kanye West is doing or who is helping him do it.”
CNN’s Grace Sparks, Adam Levy, Lure Ren Peller, Ethan Cohen and Liz Stark contributed to the story.
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