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Kanye West Donates $73,540 to Chance-Endorsed Mayoral Candidate Amara Enyia

The donation allows Enyia to be included on the ballot, but West's open affection and admiration for Donald Trump confuses matters.
Kanye West Donates $73,540 to Chance-Endorsed Mayoral Candidate Amara Enyia
L: Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty Images
R: Joshua Lott/Getty Images

Kanye West yesterday donated $73,540 to Chicago mayoral hopeful Amara Enyia, a longshot candidate whose campaign to replace the controversial Rahm Emanuel was boosted last week by an endorsement from Chance The Rapper.

In a statement to the Chicago Sun-Times, Enyia's team confirmed that West's money had already been put towards settling a debt, incurred during a previous run for mayor in 2015, with the Illinois State Board of Election. With that money now paid in full, Enyia is now free to be included on the ballot.

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The donation comes less than two weeks after West visited the White House to deliver a scattergun rant in praise of President Donald Trump.

West's donation, then, further confuses an already tangled web of a race in Chicago—at least within the rap world. Chance The Rapper's father, Ken Bennett, is already working as the campaign manager for rival candidate Toni Preckwinkle. And per the Sun-Times, Preckwinkle's team has already made a point of bringing up the donation. "If you accept money from a person like Kanye West, are you also endorsing his stance on Donald Trump?" Stanley Moore, a county commissioner campaigning for Preckwinkle, asked the paper yesterday.

Meanwhile Enyia, who is campaigning for a more transparent government, an equal education system, and a fairer economy in Chicago, will campaign alongside Chance, starting today with a rally to discuss gentrification in the Woodlawn neighborhood. “Typically, with celebrity endorsements, it’s sort of a flash-in-the-pan, one-shot deal," she told the Sun-Times. "We actually are going to be working together and co-campaigning… essentially until the end of the election cycle."

Emanuel isn't running for a third term. Chicago will hold elections for its new mayor on February 26, 2019.

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