Chicago rappers Kanye West, 2nd from right, and Chance the Rapper, 3rd from right, joined Chicago mayoral hopeful Amara Enyia on the campaign trail on Wednesday.
The A-list rappers donated thousands of dollars to Enyia’s campaign this week. Kanye personally donated $73,000 to help Enyia pay fees she incurred as a result of campaign finance violations.
Enyia is a long shot candidate for mayor, but the rappers hope to give her campaign a boost by appearing alongside her at campaign events.
Kanye, who is right-leaning politically, has previously lectured Black people about voting for candidates based on their Party affiliation rather than their policies. Enyia is a Democrat.
Kanye didn’t stay for long and chose not to speak at the event, but he agreed to stand onstage alongside Enyia and Chance the Rapper, who endorsed the new mayoral candidate at a press conference earlier this month, according to WENN.com.
Enyia told the Chicago Tribune she convinced Kanye to join her on the campaign trail over the phone after he contacted her out of the blue to discuss social issues.
Enyia dropped out of the mayoral race four years ago, but she ran afoul of state election officials when she failed to file quarterly campaign finance reports detailing what she did with her campaign donations.
When candidates drop out of a race (or lose a race) they are not allowed to keep the financial donations for their personal use. They must either donate the money to charity or file quarterly reports detailing how the money is being spent.
Kanye’s donation will be used to pay Enyia’s fines at the Illinois State Board of Elections meeting in November.
Enyia hopes to replace current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who on September 4, announced he will not run for re-election. Emanuel raised $1.6 million in donations for his re-election campaign.
"This campaign is not about one person looking for a job on the 5th floor, this campaign is part of a movement of the people of this city who have said that they want something better than what we have," said @AmaraEnyia during "pull-up" rally today at 63/Cottage Grove. pic.twitter.com/TPWlsLdm5M
— Ashlee Rezin (@Ashlee_Rezin) October 23, 2018