We don’t know why Kayne West decided to announce on Twitter this summer that he was running for president, then walk it back, and then suddenly was able to hire hundreds to gather signatures to obtain ballot status in a host of states around the country as a presidential candidate.
But here are a few things we do know: West is still a registered Republican, a fact that has hurt his ability in some states to get on the ballot as an independent. We know that Republicans have signed on in some states to be Electoral College “electors” should West win them, though that runs afoul of state statutes in Virginia. And we know that West was close enough to President Trump that they sat down for an awkward Oval Office meeting in October 2018.
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We also know two other things. First, West seems to enjoy publicity however he can get it. Second, if West’s appeals to young and Black voters persuade anyone to vote for him — even as a joke — he’s probably taking votes away from Joe Biden.
If the last point was the point of the West for President campaign — to siphon off votes from Biden where it counts — then this week that mission was given some likely fatal blows.
Judges ordered election officials in Arizona and Virginia, two swing states, to kick West off the ballot this week. This means that the only swing state where West can cause any havoc is Iowa, where just six electoral votes are up for grabs. Yes, West will appear on the ballot in some states that are solidly Republican (Utah) and solidly Democrat (Vermont) but if the point was to help Trump win the presidency again, then that goal may have just failed.
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This is not to suggest that West, apparently with Republican help, didn’t try. He submitted paperwork in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Florida, states Trump’s reelection campaign has been very focused on. He was not allowed on the ballot in any of them. (West didn’t even try to get on the Massachusetts ballot, according to a spokeswoman for Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin.)
At this point West’s best shot at influencing the election will be if he can win a Wisconsin court battle. West appealed a decision by the state’s election commission to kick him off the ballot because his application was filed on the last allowable day at 5:01 p.m., a minute past the 5 p.m. deadline. On Thursday, a federal court judge declined to take up the matter, kicking it back to Wisconsin courts. And while Wisconsin’s elected state Supreme Court has a Republican majority, even if he were to be added, West would still need to start campaigning from scratch, with less than 60 days until the November election and basically no shot at qualifying for the national presidential debates.
James Pindell can be reached at james.pindell@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jamespindell.