Kanye West loaned $6.8 million to his 2020 presidential committee, raised just $11,500
Kanye West loaned $6.8 million to his 2020 presidential committee, essentially self-funding his campaign during the first month and a half of his run, his initial campaign disclosure report shows.
In its first disclosure filing submitted to the Federal Election Commission on Friday, the West campaign reported bringing in a total of $6.8 million between July 15 and Aug. 31, with $6.76 million of that coming from West's loans to the campaign.
The campaign raised a little under $11,500 from eight donors that gave between $200 and $1,000 and smaller donors who gave under $200 during that time, the report shows.
West's campaign began accepting donations on its website in early August, a month after launching his bid for the White House.
The report also shows that the campaign spent a total of $5.9 million during that time period.
Nearly $2.7 million of that money has gone to a Huntington, New York-based firm named Millennial Strategies, LLC, which has provided a wide range of services, including campaign management consulting, legal services, polling, ballot access services and election law research, according to the filing. Led by former New York Democratic Lawyers Council Executive Director Alex Voetsch and Jeffrey Guillot, according to Millennial Strategies' website, the firm's current and past clients include a host of private corporations as well as political and advocacy campaigns, including Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign and the New York State Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee.
Another big chunk of the West campaign's money has gone to a Tempe, Arizona-based firm named Fortified Consulting, which was paid roughly $1.5 million for similar services, the filing shows. The firm is owed an additional $1.2 million from the campaign, which isn't included in the total spending.
St. Louis-based firm Atlas Strategy Group LLC, led by former American Conservative Union Executive Director Gregg Keller, was also paid $1.3 million for similar ballot access services, the report shows.
Keller is a veteran GOP operative who previously worked with Mitt Romney and John McCain's presidential campaigns in 2007 and 2008, and was listed as the West campaign's contact on its signature filing submitted last month in Arkansas. He previously served as the executive director of Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition and executive director of the American Conservative Union, according to their website, the oldest "conservative grassroots organization" in the United States.
The campaign spent a total of about $404,000 on legal fees, paying a wide range of firms, and spent $95,000 on private jet services.
Editor's note: The story has been updated to reflect that Alex Voetsch is a former executive director of the New York Democratic Lawyers Council, not the current executive director.
