Kanye Is Spending Big Bucks on His Run for Office

Kanye West's presidential run is no freebie. The Federal Election Commission says his campaign has spent nearly $6 million so far, mostly for getting on the November ballots. The rapper has loaned his campaign almost $6.8 million, received $11,000 in contributions, and spent $4.4 million on ballot-access expenses, the Washington Post reports. The big winners include Fortified Consulting ($1.5 million) and Atlas Strategy Group ($1.3 million), the latter run by prominent GOP operative Gregg Keller. But the highest paycheck goes to Millennial Strategies ($2.6 million), a communications company that worked on Pete Buttigieg's presidential bid.

Other Kanye payouts go to "spiritual adviser" John Boyd ($25,000) and Isaac Ford ($25,000), per Politico; Ford is a son and brother to two former Democratic Congress members from Tennessee. West has also paid over $260,000 in legal costs to various companies as he files suits to get on state ballots. Seems he also paid Millennial Strategies $444,000 for polling, which Politico calls "an exorbitantly high amount for a fledgling campaign." West, who has supported President Trump, filed as an independent running for the "Birthday Party." (His campaign has been accused of using phony signatures to get on a state ballot.)