Kanye gives $73K to Chance-backed mayoral candidate Amara Enyia
Donation gives much-needed money, also raises potential problem of being tied to Trump-loving rapper’s politics
Rapper Kanye West on Monday donated $73,540 to the long-shot mayoral campaign of Amara Enyia, six days after Chance the Rapper’s celebrity endorsement elevated Enyia in the crowded race to replace Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The infusion of cash also comes just 11 days after West’s face-to-face talk with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office made national headlines.
The sizeable donation is the first concrete sign that Chance’s surprise endorsement of Enyia is translating into hard cash for the executive director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, who needs to introduce herself to Chicago voters to have any hope of standing out in the crowd.
A political strategist not aligned with anyone in the race for mayor said Enyia’s campaign is “becoming real” with Kanye’s contribution.
“If Chance does one concert for her, she can raise several hundred thousand in one day,” the strategist said.
At the close of the third quarter, Enyia reported having just $67.54 in the bank.
The candidate said she has already used West’s contribution to settle a $73,540 debt to the Illinois State Board of Elections stemming from filing fees and penalties never paid that must be resolved before she can get on the mayoral ballot.
“The $73,540 debt to the Illinois State Board of Elections has been paid in full,” the Enyia campaign declared in an emailed statement.
County Commissioner Stanley Moore, who has endorsed County Board President Toni Preckwinkle for mayor, said Enyia’s decision to accept West’s donation opens up a whole new line of questioning.
“If you accept money from a person like Kanye West, are you also endorsing his stance on Donald Trump?” Moore said.
“Kanye West has made comments in the past about slavery being the slave’s fault. He has talked about abolishing the 13th Amendment. This opens the door for Amara to answer questions about whether or not she is embracing these same philosophies. Is she embracing Trump’s policies that hurt African-Americans?”
Enyia did not return phone calls.
Last week, Enyia told the Chicago SunTimes that Chance was not only throwing his celebrity power and fundraising muscle behind her candidacy. He’s giving her his time and his ideas on how to confront Chicago’s most vexing issues.
On the day he dramatically elevated Enyia’s long-shot candidacy with his celebrity endorsement, Chance vowed to launch a “massive” voter registration drive to get her elected.
“I’d like to say very narcissistically, if I back you, you have a chance — absolutely,” the Grammy-winning hip-hop artist told a jam-packed City Hall news conference.
Asked on that day whether he would also contribute to Enyia’s underfunded campaign, Chance said it was a possibility.
“I haven’t yet, but we’ll see. I got a lot of money, so it would be scary,” he said.
This month, West wore a “Make America Great Again” cap during an Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump.
The rapper talked to Trump about ways to reduce crime in Chicago and pressed the president to grant clemency to Gangster Disciples kingpin Larry Hoover, who is currently serving a life sentence in a federal prison in Colorado.
West also confronted Trump over his oftrepeated call to give Chicago police more stop and frisk powers. Trump called a pact between the Chicago Police Department and the ACLU of Illinois “terrible.”
Fresh from a Soho House meeting with Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson and Michael Sacks, Emanuel’s biggest campaign contributor, the rapper said, “We feel that stop and frisk does not help with the relationship in the city and everyone knew I was coming here said, ‘Ask about stop and frisk.’ ”
After West spoke at length, Trump said he was “totally open” to any suggestions West made about addressing Chicago violence.
Near the end of the Oval Office meeting, West walked behind the desk and hugged Trump.