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A judge in Virginia's Richmond Circuit Court has removed Kanye West from the state's 2020 presidential ballot, according to Laura Vozzella of The Washington Post.
The decision comes after a lawsuit filed by a firm connected to several prominent Virginia Democrats which alleged that the rapper used invalid electors to get on the ballot. The judge agreed, writing that 11 of Kanye's 13 electors "were obtained by improper, fraudulent and/or misleading means."
West has been accused of collaborating with Republican operatives to push his campaign forward, and his representation in court fit that pattern. According to VPM reporter Ben Paviour, West was represented in court by Chris Kowalczuk, who described himself in 2003 as a "hard-core Republican." Kowalczuk also reportedly "emphasized West’s race to the Black judge at least three times as a reason to avoid a rushed judgment" in today's hearing.
This week, West filed a lawsuit against Ohio Secretary of State Frank Larose, who removed West from the 2020 ballot, citing "mismatched information on the signature documents." He has ongoing lawsuits against Arizona and West Virginia, which have also deemed his presidential run ineligible for their states.