The Missouri Republican Party said Thursday it is working to remove the Republican gubernatorial candidate from the primary ballot paper one that appears after a photo he took Nazi online saluted while standing in front of the burning cross.
Candidate Darrell Leon McClanahan III is pictured saluting with a hooded man, apparently in Klan garb.
“The Missouri Republican Party has been notified that Darrell Leon McClanahan III has filed for Governor as a Republican despite his affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan, which is fundamentally inconsistent with our party’s values and platform,” the party said in a statement released Thursday. “We have begun the process of removing Mr. McClanahan from the ballot as a Republican candidate.”
McClanahan responded in an op-ed in X, saying in part: “The GOP knew exactly who I was. … What anti-White hypocrites.”
McClanahan’s campaign website describes him as a “conservative voice for governor of Missouri” and pits one of his campaign promises against a “woke agenda.”
A move by the state GOP, which is the first informed The Riverfront Times came after Shamed Dogan, a black former Republican state congressman, noted that McClanahan was on the primary ballot and urged the party to take action. Candidates paid their filing fees Tuesday to run in the August primary.
The image first gained attention in 2022 when the Anti-Defamation League’s Countering Extremism Center published a report. article about McClanahan’s extremist history following his failed Senate run. McClanahan first ran for the seat as a Republican, lost the race, and then launched an unsuccessful run as an independent candidate for the seat in the U.S. House of Representatives – winning by just one vote. according to Missouri Secretary of State.
McClanahan filed a $5 million lawsuit against the ADL after the loss, claiming the organization defamed him and engaged in “election interference.”
Into costume, McClanahan described himself as a “White supremacist,” but said he was not and never had been a member of the KKK. However, he was “provided with an Honorary 1-year membership” by the group’s state coordinator.
McClanahan said in the ADL article that he “participated in a 2019 private religious Christian Identity Cross lighting ceremony that was falsely described as a cross burning.” The ADL has described Christian Identity as a “racist and anti-Semitic religious sect.”
McClanahan said he attended the ceremony in response to Charlottesville Connect the right the protester was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
“Plaintiff believed it was an unfair sentence” because “Black Defendant” was sentenced to the same term for manslaughter.
The protester was convicted of beating the black man cited by McClanahan.
Judge threw McClanahan’s lawsuit last year stated that he was not defamed and that his lawsuit “reflects that Plaintiff himself holds the views attributed to him by the ADL article, namely, characterizing his social media presence and views as anti-Semitic, white racist, anti-Semitism, anti-government, and bigoted.”
The judge noted in part that he allowed her to attend the crucifixion, and that she had written an article for the KKK’s newsletter denouncing anti-whites from a ‘pro-white perspective.’ [sic].’”
McClanahan did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
After the departure of term-limited Gov. Mike Parsons, Republicans are expected to hold on to the Missouri governorship. GOP candidates include Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe and state Sen. Bill Eigel.