Kanye West announced his 2020 United States presidential election campaign through Twitter on July 4, 2020. On July 16, 2020, the campaign filed a Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission. He entered the election after missing at least six states' deadlines to appear on the ballot as a third-party candidate. West selected Michelle Tidball, a Christian preacher from Wyoming, as his running mate. West's platform advocated for the creation of a culture of life, endorsing environmental stewardship, supporting the arts, buttressing faith-based organizations, restoring school prayer, and providing for a strong national defense. A supporter of a consistent life ethic (a tenet of Christian democracy), West opposed abortion and capital punishment. West qualified for ballot access in 12 states. The campaign sued for ballot access in five additional states (Arizona, Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia and West Virginia), and subsequently lost all appeals, gave up on four other states (Illinois, Montana, Missouri, and New Jersey), and missed the deadlines of a further 29 states, plus the District of Columbia. West additionally appeared on the California ballot, as Rocky De La Fuente's running mate, under the American Independent Party, something to which neither West nor De La Fuente had consented. Despite appearing on the California ballot as a running mate, West urged his followers on Twitter to vote for him as a write-in instead. West conceded his campaign on November 4, 2020, the morning after Election Day, after receiving roughly 70,000 votes in the 12 states where he had ballot access. West ultimately ranked 4th (5th in Colorado, Minnesota and Vermont) in vote count in his states, and received the 7th highest national vote count for a Presidential candidate. West expressed interest in running again in 2024 on the same day. Background In July 2020, West stated that the idea for his campaign occurred when he was offered the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards (VMA). While showering in his mother-in-law Kris Jenner's home, West was writing a rap song and thought of the lyric "you're going to run for president". He started laughing hysterically at the thought of including a presidential announcement in his acceptance speech, along with disparaging remarks about award shows. On August 30, 2015, West announced at the VMA that he would be running for president in 2020. The following month, on September 24, West reaffirmed to Vanity Fair that he