The race is on: Kanye West registers official documents to run for US president

Hip Hop mogul Kanye West is not backing down on his promise to join the 2020 US presidential race.

On Wednesday, TMZ reported that he had filed the ‘form 1 statement of organisation’ with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). It's a declaration that the Kanye Committee will head the campaign for his candidacy.

He is yet to file the ‘form 2 statement of candidacy’, which indicates that he has either raised or spent more than $5,000 in campaign activity under federal campaign law.

Kanye registered his candidacy in the state of Oklahoma on Wednesday, which was the deadline. The Guardian reports that his representative filed the necessary documentation and paid $35,000 to run as an independent candidate to take on Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

The publication reports that the not-so-good news is that he has already missed several deadlines in a number of states. It also remains unclear if he will continue registration with the states that are still open for registrations.

The news came as a shock to some after the New York Magazine had reported on Tuesday that he had pulled out of the race. It quoted Steve Kramer, an adviser who has worked with a number of aspirant presidential candidates.

He told the publication that West was “out” of the race and that the staff he had employed in his campaign were disappointed.  

On July 4, Kanye sent shock waves across the globe when he tweeted that he would be joining the 2020 presidential race. He received mixed responses but among his supporters were his wife, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.