Kanye West Will Appear On New Jersey's Presidential Ballot

NEW JERSEY — After teasing the idea since at least 2015, Kanye West is running for president in 2020. No, seriously.

The Chicago-born rapper will likely appear on New Jersey ballots after submitting 1,327 of the necessary 800 petition signatures to the state's Division of Elections prior to the Monday deadline, according to state filings.

No official party has been listed for West, who earlier this year said he would run as a candidate of the "Birthday Party," which he would be creating.

West, according to a July 25 tweet, believes he may not need an official political party, nor even a place on ballots, to win the election.

"I will beat Biden off of write ins," he said.

I will beat Biden off of write ins #2020VISION
— ye (@kanyewest) July 25, 2020

Though West appears to think he may not need ballot placements, he has been pushing to appear on more of them as of late.

In Illinois, West paid $10 a signature to meet the ballot deadline, according to a Patch report, and paid the $35,000 filing fee in Oklahoma to appear on the state's ballot.

He missed the filing deadline in South Carolina, according to the state's election commission.

At a campaign rally in the state, West created the first viral campaign moment when he levied criticism at Harriet Tubman.

"Harriet Tubman never actually freed the slaves," he said, "she just had the slaves go work for other white people."

Kanye said this and I left immediately. I went for a laugh and I got one. But when it got disrespectful for me it was over. pic.twitter.com/nNqjUp03mu
— Toe Knee (@toekneerlynos) July 19, 2020

Days later, West claimed that his wife, Kim Kardashian, was attempting to have him hospitalized in a series of now deleted tweets.

"Kim tried to bring a doctor to lock me up with a doctor," West said.

The series of tweets caused many to share concern for the rapper, who has been public about his bipolar disorder. On his 2018 album, 'ye,' he referred to the disorder as his "superpower," but has also been open about his struggles with it.

"When you're in this state, you're hyper-paranoid about everything," West said in a 2019 interview with David Letterman.

As West continues to campaign, fans of his music are awaiting a new album which the rapper said would be released last Friday, but never arrived.

In June, West announced a new 10-year deal between Gap and his clothing company, Yeezy, for a new line. The Yeezy Gap line is expected to be available in stores and online in 2021, the company said in June.