Kanye West finally releases 1st campaign ad 3 weeks before the 2020 election

Months after announcing his 2020 presidential run, Kanye West has finally gotten around to making a campaign ad.

West, the rapper who declared in July he'd be running for president despite it being too late to get on the ballot in every state, dropped a video on Twitter featuring himself speaking in front of an American flag, generic B-roll throughout, and a call for viewers to write his name in this November. The Monday ad was the first West has released, Mediaite notes, even though he threw his hat into the ring over three months ago and the election is just weeks away.

"We as a people will revive our nation's commitment to faith, to what our Constitution calls the free exercise of religion, including, of course, prayer," West says in the video. "Through prayer, faith can be restored."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

West had spoken surprisingly infrequently about his presidential campaign in recent weeks, as he devoted much of his time on Twitter to railing against his recording contract. When he has discussed his campaign, reporter Ben Jacobs observed in September that the rapper for a while had "never explicitly asked Americans for their vote and has instead just announced that he will be president."

Recently, though, West's campaign put out a rare press release after he appeared as a vice presidential candidate in California against his wishes, with West saying, "Californians, I ask for your vote for president and urge you to write in, 'Kanye West.'"

Last month, The New York Times reported that during the course of numerous exchanges, West "made clear he believes he will become president — eventually — but said almost nothing about what he actually wanted to do if elected." His website describes a platform consisting of goals like "restoring prayer in the classroom including spiritual foundations." Brendan Morrow