On Friday, a Missouri judge ruled that a A self-proclaimed former “honorary” member of the Ku Klux Klan Missouri Republicans are trying to keep him off the ballot, but he could remain on the Republican primary ballot for governor.
“Plaintiff has presented no evidence that McClanahan’s presence on the primary ballot would cause her any injury,” Circuit Court Judge Cotton Walker wrote in her ruling. “McClanahan’s presence on the primary ballot is not necessarily a party endorsement.”
The state GOP said in February it was working to remove long-shot candidate Darrell Leon McClanahan III from the 2022 Republican primary race after the Anti-Defamation League published an article. It details McClanahan’s extremist history. The article also included photos showing the candidate giving a Nazi salute in front of a burning cross and standing next to members of the KKK.
The Missouri Republican Party said in February that McClanahan’s KKK affiliation was “fundamentally inconsistent with the values and platform of our party.”
NBC News has not independently verified McClanahan’s photos, but the candidate confirmed their authenticity in St. Louis confirmed to the Post-Dispatch. February report.
“They have a bad picture of me,” said McClanahan, referring to a photo of himself in front of the cross, claiming he was “not a Nazi.” After shipment.
In a more than 1,100-word response to NBC News’ request for comment on the judge’s ruling, McClanahan said he was “not racist” and “not anti-Semitic.”
“Please report some real news,” McClanahan said in a block of text without final punctuation. “You’re just searching for the KKK hashtag, an invisible empire that claims to be a member of the KKK.”
The Missouri GOP did not immediately respond to NBC News’ requests for comment on the judge’s ruling Saturday.
McClanahan said court documents he was never a member of the KKK. However, he said he was “provided with an Honorary 1-year membership” by the KKK Missouri coordinator.
In the same court documents, McClanahan said he “participated in a 2019 lighting ceremony for a private religious Christian Identity Cross that was falsely described as a cross burning.”