A mysterious presidential candidate registered with the FEC as "Deez Nuts" is polling at 9 percent in North Carolina as of Wednesday, and reporters soon revealed the campaign is the work of a 15-year-old Iowa farm boy.
As CBS News reported, more than 500 people have filed to run for president with the Federal Election Commission as of Monday, and dozens of the filings appear to be jokes.
"Anybody can fill out a Form 2," explained FEC Deputy Press Officer Christian Hilland. "We do vetting, but it’s more about did they fill out the information correctly? Did they review the fields? It doesn’t speak to the authenticity of the individual who filed the claim."
Some joke candidacies, such as the candidacy of a Kentucky cat named Limberbutt McCubbins — slogan: "The Time is Meow!" — have now inspired others.
"When I heard about the Limberbutt McCubbins story, I realized I could," said Brady Olson, 15, who filed under the assumed name Deez Nuts,
according to The Daily Beast.
Olson filed Deez Nuts as an Independent on July 26, and the firm
Public Policy Polling put his name into one of its recent surveys.
"It started because somebody emailed us under the name Deez Nuts," said Jim Williams, an issue polling specialist a Public Policy Polling. "He said, 'I’m Deez Nuts. I’m running. Here’s my filing statement. Would you poll me?'"
Shockingly, the poll, released Wednesday, revealed that 9 percent of voters in the Tar Heel State would vote for him over billionaire Donald Trump and former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton in a three-way matchup.
With this week's polling coup under his belt, Olsen is now trying to figure out what's next.
"The next step is to get some party nominations, like the Minnesota Independence Party or the Modern Whig Party," Olson explained. "It would also be great to find a VP, preferably McCubbins because the Nuts/McCubbins ticket sounds amazing."
Olsen has also started to think about his policy positions.
"He’s now come out for a balanced budget. He’s come out in favor of the Iran Deal," said Williams. "Deez Nuts is starting to get serious."
Getting serious himself for a moment, Williams explained that, joking aside, "clearly, there’s some kind of floor here for third-party entities that’s rising."
He also suggested that polling fatigue could also play some factor.
"The polls are pretty long. By the time we drop Deez Nuts on them, they’re pretty deep into the poll," Williams said. "The jokes write themselves," he added, realizing what he'd just said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.