A KKK-affiliated southern nationalist has filed to run for governor in Missouri; the Republican Party is now trying to get him off the ballot.
Darrell McClanahan III ran for governor, the state Republican Party says they were unaware of his history, including a one-year honorary membership in the KKK.
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The Missouri Republican Party has taken steps to block a man affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan from running as the Republican candidate for governor.
Darrell Leon McClanahan III, of Milo, Missouri, filed this week to run in the Republican primary for governor, one of eight Republicans to file to run.
McClanahan previously ran last cycle for an open Senate seat in Missouri. He earned 0.2 percent of the vote in a race ultimately won by now-Senator Eric Schmitt.
On Thursday, the Missouri Republican Party disavowed McClanahan’s entry into the race, saying: “The Missouri Republican Party has been informed that Darrell Leon McClanahan III is running for governor as a Republican despite his affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan , which fundamentally contradicts the values of our party.” and platform.’
Pictured left, McClanahan (center) appears with KKK Knights Party leaders Thomas and Jason Robb. On the right, he appears alongside a hooded Klansman at a cross burning in 2019.
McClanahan has insisted to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he is “not a Nazi” despite the photo.
“We have begun the process to remove Mr. McClanahan from the ballot as the Republican candidate,” they continued.
The statement also included a condemnation of hate groups and the proclamation that “our party stands for respect for all individuals and we are dedicated to addressing any challenge to these principles decisively.”
In 2022, the Anti-Defamation League published an article that included a photo of McClanahan with two men described as leaders of the Knights Party: the ‘Knights of the Ku Klux Klan’ are a modern branch of the KKK.
Another image apparently shows McClanahan at a cross burning in 2019.
In the image, McClanahan stands next to a person wearing a white KKK robe and a pointy hat. Both men have their right arms raised in what appears to be a Nazi salute.
On Thursday, McClanahan told St. Louis after shipping that he “is not a Nazi.”
“I don’t believe in Heil Hitler,” he said, stating that the photo is simply “a bad image of me.”
Regarding the photo of himself with Knights leaders, McClanahan said: ‘That’s me. Yes that’s me.’
McClanahan sued the ADL last year for defamation in a case that was transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri before being dismissed in December.
Although the Missouri Republican Party claims they unknowingly accepted his filing fee, McClanahan says they knew exactly who he was when he signed up to run.
In his original petition to the court, McClanahan described himself as a “pro-white man, horseman, politician, political prisoner, and activist dedicated to traditional Christian values.”
The lawsuit goes on to claim that McClanahan does not belong to the KKK. However, he later says that he was “provided with an honorary membership for one year.”
McClanahan attempted to clarify to the Post-Dispatch that the membership referred to the League of the South, a self-proclaimed “southern nationalist” group that advocates for “cultural and political secession” from the former Confederate states.
The petition also appears to address the image of the burning of the cross, which in 2019 is known as a “private religious Christian Identity Cross lighting ceremony.”
Former state Rep. Shamed Dogan, who was the only black Republican lawmaker in the state legislature while in office, highlighted McClanahan’s issue to the state party in X.
‘Hello @MissouriGOP I just found out that the candidate listed first on our gubernatorial primary ballot is a member of the KKK who ran for the US Senate 2 years ago and freely admits his membership in the KKK and his supremacist beliefs white,” he wrote, adding that the body should reject the politician’s presentation fees.
‘Please tell me you’re going to… refuse this racist loser’s appearance fee?’ he said.