Kanye West concedes defeat in US election but vows to run in 2024
Rapper Kanye West has conceded defeat in the US election, but vowed to continue his longshot bid in the 2024 race.
The 43-year-old launched his bid for the White House in July but it has been hampered by repeated failures to make the ballot in several states.
Early on Wednesday morning, the US presidential election was still too close to call after a tense night for both camps.
West had asked fans to back him as a write-in candidate - where voters write the name of a person on their ballot card because it does not appear there.
Sharing a photo on Twitter of himself in front of the electoral map as votes are counted across the US, he wrote: “KANYE 2024.”
In October, just weeks before the election, the devoutly religious West tweeted his first campaign video, promising a focus on faith if he made it to the Oval Office.
“We as a people will revive our nation’s commitment to faith, to what our Constitution calls the free exercise of religion, including, of course, prayer,” West said in the advert, which featured a black-and-white American flag.
“Through prayer, faith can be restored. We, as a people, are called to a greater purpose than ourselves.
"We are not only a beacon to the world, but we should be servants to each other, to encourage each other, to help each other, to lift up each other, our fellow Americans, that we may all prosper together.”
West, who has been vocal in his anti-abortion stance, promised to “build a stronger country by building stronger families” if he won power.
He added: “Families are the building blocks of society, of a nation. By turning to faith we will be the kind of nation, the kind of people, God intends us to be.”
A message at the end of the video asked voters to “write in Kanye West”.
A write-in candidate is someone whose name does not appear on the ballot but is instead physically written in by a voter.
Fans of West have been sharing photos of their ballots, with his name added in by hand.