Kanye concedes presidential race, but says he'll run again in 2024

It’s been a rough night for those watching the US presidential election. Despite hangovers, incredulous tweets, and at least one unfounded declaration of victory, there is still no clear winner. However, one thing people do know for sure is that if (when?) these votes are contested, Kanye West won’t have anything to do with it. Not now that he’s officially conceded his spot in this race, anyhow.The longshot candidate took to Twitter with a short statement on November 3 after voting for himself earlier in the day, officially throwing in the towel—for now. “WELP KANYE 2024” he wrote after he failed to earn more than 0.5 per cent of the vote in any of the states where he was actually eligible to run. West has since taken down that post and replaced it with a new one that reads, “Kanye 2024.”

KANYE 2024 pic.twitter.com/Zm2pKcn12t

— ye (@kanyewest) November 4, 2020

Throughout Kanye’s presidential run, fans were never completely sure whether he was seriously hoping to take office. Although he declared his intention to run on Independence Day over the summer, he dropped out days later after failing to hit deadlines to appear on several state’s official ballots as a third-party candidate. When he revealed he intended to still run days after that, he held an emotional and controversial rally in South Carolina that left those close to him questioning whether he needed help with his mental health.In the weeks leading up to the election West seemed to take the event more seriously, taking out a two-page political ad in The New York Times, debuting his first campaign ad in October, and even going on Joe Rogan’s podcast to declare that God had called on him to be the “leader of the free world.” Through it all he failed to address any actual campaign policies or to denounce his former support for Donald Trump and MAGA, leading some to speculate that the entire thing was a stunt designed to draw support from democratic nominee Joe Biden.Whatever the intent, it’s rumoured that West spent millions of his own dollars on the presidential run. According to Deadline West managed to secure about 60,000 total votes across 12 states as an independent. His earned the most support in Tennessee, where he grabbed more than 10,000 votes. And while fans know that his wife, Kim Kardashian, voted because she shared as much on her own social media pages, the reality star has remained mum on who she actually cast her ballot for.Meanwhile, because this election is clearly one of the strangest to ever go down, the American Independent Party of California also put West on the ballot—but not as a write-in for president. Instead they pledged Roque De La Fuente as president and West as his vice-president—without the rapper’s permission. According to one report, they wanted to put West on as their presidential candidate, but they couldn’t reach him in time.As for the two main contenders, Joe Biden and Donald Trump? There were too many votes to tally up overnight on election day given the historic turnout, and at time of press no winner has been declared. Currently Trump has said that he wants all voting to stop (the polls are closed, only counting remains), and that he wants to turn the matter over to the supreme court—a move pundits fully expected. Trump has also declared himself a winner, although at time of press he had 213 electoral college votes compared to Biden’s 238. (U.S. voters indirectly elect the president through the Electoral College, which has 538 electors. A president needs 270 for a majority.)In other words, Kanye may be out, but the greatest reality show of 2020 continues to the south of us.[video_embed id='2067000']Before you go: Kanye surprised Kim with a hologram of her late father[/video_embed]