Kanye Is Spending Big Bucks on His Run for Office

The politically-minded rapper only has $11K in donations
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 6, 2020 11:40 AM CDT
Kanye Is Spending Big Bucks on His Run for Office
In this Sunday, July 19, 2020, file photo, Kanye West makes his first presidential campaign appearance, in North Charleston, SC.   (Lauren Petracca Ipetracca/The Post And Courier via AP, File)

Kanye West's presidential run is no freebie. The Federal Election Commission says his campaign has spent nearly $6 million so far, mostly for getting on the November ballots. The rapper has loaned his campaign almost $6.8 million, received $11,000 in contributions, and spent $4.4 million on ballot-access expenses, the Washington Post reports. The big winners include Fortified Consulting ($1.5 million) and Atlas Strategy Group ($1.3 million), the latter run by prominent GOP operative Gregg Keller. But the highest paycheck goes to Millennial Strategies ($2.6 million), a communications company that worked on Pete Buttigieg's presidential bid.

Other Kanye payouts go to "spiritual adviser" John Boyd ($25,000) and Isaac Ford ($25,000), per Politico; Ford is a son and brother to two former Democratic Congress members from Tennessee. West has also paid over $260,000 in legal costs to various companies as he files suits to get on state ballots. Seems he also paid Millennial Strategies $444,000 for polling, which Politico calls "an exorbitantly high amount for a fledgling campaign." West, who has supported President Trump, filed as an independent running for the "Birthday Party." (His campaign has been accused of using phony signatures to get on a state ballot.)

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