Missouri’s Republican Party filed suit Thursday to stop an honorary member of the Ku Klux Klan from running for governor under its banner.
The petition says the GOP did not have a chance to vet Darrell McClanahan III and didn’t learn of his views and associations until after he filed a declaration of candidacy.
“MSRC does not want to be associated with Mr. McClanahan. His racism and antisemitism are antithetical to beliefs of MRSC,” the party wrote in its request for an injunction.
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Last month, after McClanahan launched his primary campaign, a photo of him in front of a burning cross with a Klan member resurfaced—prompting the party to disavow him.
The party also asked the secretary of state to remove McClanahan from the ballot but he refused. He is named as a defendant in the suit.
Although McClanahan has said he was never a member of the KKK, the suit notes that he has acknowledged he was given an honorary one-year membership.
In response to the Missouri GOP’s repudiation, McClanahan said earlier this month that the party “knew exactly who I am” and claimed the chairman “knew I was a Christian identist” and told him “that I should just not say anything bad about the Jews.”
“What a bunch of Anti-White hypocrites,” he added.
On Thursday, he uploaded documents of the GOP case to a video on YouTube, titled, “Missouri GOP filed a lawsuit against me What a bunch of Anti-White Hypocrites.” He made no further comment.
As NBC News reported, the photo of McClanahan with the burning cross first came to light two years ago when he ran for the Republican nomination for a Senate seat and lost—and then ran as an independent for a House seat and lost again.
He sued the Anti-Defamation League—which had exposed his history—for $5 million, but it was dismissed.
