A judge in Missouri ruled Friday that a self-proclaimed former “honorary member” of the Ku Klux Klan can remain in the Republican primary for governor of the state, despite Missouri Republicans trying to keep him off the ballot.
“Plaintiff has not presented to the Court any evidence that McClanahan’s attendance at the primary would be prejudicial,” wrote District Court Judge Cotton Walker. “McClanahan’s presence in the primary elections does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the candidate by the party.”
The state’s Republican Party said in February it was working to remove candidate Darrell Leon McClanahan III from the Republican primary after the Anti-Defamation League published an article in 2022 detailing McClanahan’s extremist history. The article also included photos showing the candidate apparently giving a Nazi salute in front of a burning cross and standing next to KKK members.
The Republican Party of Missouri said in February that McClanahan’s affiliation with the KKK is “fundamentally inconsistent with our party’s values and platform.”
NBC News has not independently verified McClanahan’s photos, but the candidate confirmed their veracity to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, according to a February report.
“They have a bad photo of me,” McClanahan told the newspaper about the photo of him in front of the cross, claiming he was “not a Nazi.” He attached a separate photo of him pictured with KKK members, according to the Post Dispatch.
In a more than 1,100-word response to NBC News’ request for comment on the judge’s decision, McClanahan said he is “not a racist” and “not anti-Semitic.”
“Please report real news,” McClanahan said in a block of text without punctuation. “You just search for the hashtag KKK. It’s an invisible empire that would admit to being a member of the KKK.”
The Missouri GOP did not immediately respond Saturday to NBC News’ requests for comment on the judge’s decision.
McClanahan said in court documents that he has never been a member of the KKK. However, he said he was “given a one-year honorary membership” by a KKK Missouri coordinator.
In the same court documents, McClanahan said he “attended a private religious Christian Identity Cross lighting ceremony in 2019 that was incorrectly described as a cross burning.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
