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How Much Did Kanye West Waste on His Presidential Campaign?

Kanye West - El American

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Rapper Kanye West spent more than $13.2 million on his election campaign for the U.S. presidency, of which nearly $12.5 million came out of his own pocket, People magazine reported on Thursday.

West, 42, managed to raise another $2 million dollars for the race, so in total he had 14.5 million dollars for the elections of last November 3rd, in which he only got 66,000 votes in the entire U.S., according to figures contained in a report by the Federal Election Commission.

The artist launched his bizarre electoral campaign last July 4th and named his political party “Birthday Party”, but only fulfilled the necessary requirements to have his name printed on the ballots in a dozen of the fifty states.

West spent more than $7.5 million in expenses to get his name on the ballot, including $1.28 million in payments to Atlas Stategy Group, a company owned by Republican strategist Gregg Keller.

In the 2020 election, current President Joe Biden raised more than $1 billion in funds, a figure that in Trump’s case was $811 million.

Despite his efforts, the rapper only managed to qualify as a candidate in 12 states, as he needed to raise tens of thousands of signatures to be included.

The data also reveals, for example, that West paid $35,000 to get his name on the ballot in Oklahoma, where he only received 6,000 votes.

West also spent a lot of money on legal fees and the production of online videos to promote both the campaign and his fashion line, whose buyers in some cases are listed as contributing to the artist’s election efforts. However, there are no recorded expenditures on television, radio or digital media advertising.

Although West’s candidacy never gained traction, West pumped $2.7 million of his own money into the campaign in the last four weeks, and documents show that in the last week before the election he spent more than $210,000 on advertising in The New York Times, and nearly $1 million on clothing bearing the candidate’s logos.

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