(NewsWorthy.news) – Republicans in Missouri are in the process of kicking out one of the party’s members over his links to the Ku Klux Klan. The Missouri GOP X account published a post on February 29 stating that it had been made aware of Darrell Leon McClanahan III’s affiliations and was taking prompt action to have him removed from the ballot as a Republican candidate. The post stressed that the candidate did not align with the party’s values and that the Republicans condemn association with hate groups. McClanahan was one of eight Republicans to file a petition in the past week to run in the party’s primary for governor.
This is not the first time the Republicans have distanced themselves from a candidate with ties to the KKK; in 2016 former leader and Grand Wizard of the KKK David Duke was registered with the Republican party and ran for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana. Duke expressed his support for Trump and claimed that the values he had supported for years aligned with those of Trump and the Republicans. The party’s chairman in Louisiana, Roger Villere, referred to Duke as a “hate-filled fraud”. Villere stressed that Duke’s views did not represent those of Republicans and that the party would actively oppose him in the state. Ward Baker, of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, confirmed that the organization would not support Duke.
The KKK has a history of publicly endorsing presidential candidates, including Ronald Reagan, who clarified that he resented the group using his name and opposed what they stood for. Left-wing commentators have previously criticized Trump for refusing to condemn white supremacists.
McClanahan has reportedly described himself in the past as pro-white and a “political prisoner-activist” who is devoted to Christian traditions. He has been photographed saluting in front of a burning cross alongside another klansman. McClanahan claimed that he had no formal ties to the KKK and that he was only an “honorary member”. He also attended the 2017 “Unite the Right” protest in Charlottesville and is a member of the League of the South, which is branded a white extremist group by the Anti-Defamation League. McClanahan reportedly claimed that he disagreed with the League of the South’s ideas. He also argued that he filed his petition legally and that the Republican Party had been fully aware of who he was when they gave him the receipt.
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