Consultant with ties to Parson, Hawley listed as Kanye campaign contact in Arkansas
A St. Louis-based Republican consultant with ties to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley was listed as the point of contact for Kanye West’s campaign when it submitted signatures Monday to appear on the Arkansas ballot in November.
West’s petition as an independent candidate for president comes roughly one week after he applied for a spot on the Missouri ballot. Unlike Arkansas, Missouri does not require independent campaigns to list a point of contact.
Gregg Keller did not respond to an email or phone call Monday regarding West’s campaign and whether he had a role in the effort to get the rapper onto Missouri ballot. Keller’s involvement with West’s campaign in Arkansas was first reported by Ben Jacobs, a freelance reporter who has been covering West’s campaign.
Keller’s bio on the website for his firm Atlas Strategy Group notes that he was a paid adviser to Hawley’s successful 2018 campaign.
Keller previously served as chair of the Missouri Victory Committee, which works to elect Republicans in the state. He was named to the position by Parson in 2019, but the Missouri Republican Party said Monday he resigned that position in December.
Keller is also on the board of directors of the Show-Me Institute, a free market think tank co-founded by St. Louis billionaire Rex Sinquefeld.
The presence of a prominent Republican operative in the effort to get West on the ballot has fueled speculation that the campaign is meant to benefit President Donald Trump by potentially drawing votes from former Vice President Joe Biden.
Whether West will appear on the ballot in Missouri still remains to be determined. Election officials will assess whether his campaign collected 10,000 valid signatures of registered voters. Republicans have won Missouri in the past five presidential elections.
West won’t be on the Kansas ballot. Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab’s office confirmed Monday that West had missed a noon deadline to deliver 5,000 signatures.
This story has been updated to reflect that Keller no longer chairs the Missouri Victory Committee, according to the Missouri Republican Party.
This story was originally published August 3, 2020 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Consultant with ties to Parson, Hawley listed as Kanye campaign contact in Arkansas."
