Kanye West, the popular rapper and social icon, has officially filed to appear on Ohio ballots for the 2020 presidential election, according to Fox 5.
West, who announced he would run for the presidency on July 4, submitted paperwork to the state on August 5.
West also filed today to appear on ballots in Wisconsin and Colorado. West has already filed in Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Vermont, West Virginia.
In his Ohio filing, West listed Michelle Tidball as his vice presidential candidate. Tidball is a self-proclaimed “life and spiritual coach” who owns and operates Yarash, a Christian life coaching ministry designed for “service to others who desire to be free from life’s entanglements and walk upon the earth with full understanding of who we [sic] are.”
Tidball previously worked with Bright Futures Mentoring as an executive director.
West and Tidball will run as independent candidates. In July, West filed with the Federal Election Commission under the “BDY,” or Birthday Party.
The first mention of the Birthday Party came from West’s July 8 interview with Forbes, where the rapper declared that “when we win, it’s everybody’s birthday.”
While West’s platform consists of some unorthodox political beliefs, such as basing the framework of his administration upon the country of Wakanda from Marvel Comics, the star has stated support for more traditional policies. Some of these include stimulus payments to citizens, tax breaks for businesses, and a focus on building minority, and particularly Black communities.
Ohio marks the 10th state in which West has filed to run, though his filing in New Jersey was cast out earlier this week due to invalid signatures.
West also missed the deadline to file in South Carolina, marking at least two states that will not list the media mogul on the presidential ballot.
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Sam Medley is a journalist at the Tennessee Star and Star News Network. You can follow Sam at Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Kanye West” by David Shankbone. CC BY 3.0. Background Photo “Voting Booths” by Tim Evanson. CC BY-SA 2.0.
