Missouri GOP moves to toss 'honorary' member of Ku Klux Klan from governor's race

The Missouri Republican Party said Thursday it was working to remove a Republican candidate for governor from the primary ballot after a picture of him appearing to do a Nazi salute while standing in front of a burning cross resurfaced online.

In the picture, the candidate, Darrell Leon McClanahan III, is seen apparently saluting alongside a hooded man in Klan robes.

“The Missouri Republican Party has been made aware that Darrell Leon McClanahan III filed for Governor as a Republican despite his affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan, which fundamentally contradicts our party’s values and platform,” the party said in a post on X Thursday. “We have begun the process of having Mr. McClanahan removed from the ballot as a Republican candidate.”

McClanahan responded in a post on X, saying in part, “The GOP knew exactly who I am. ... What a bunch of Anti-White hypocrites.”

McClanahan's campaign website describes him as “the conservative voice for governor of Missouri” and lists one of his campaign promises as opposing “the woke agenda.”

The state GOP’s move, which was first reported by the Riverfront Times, came after Shamed Dogan, a former Republican state representative who’s Black, noted McClanahan’s inclusion on the primary ballot and urged the party to take action. Candidates paid their filing fees to run in the August primary on Tuesday.

The picture first garnered attention in 2022, when the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism published an article on McClanahan’s extremist history following his failed run for Senate. McClanahan initially sought the Republican nomination for the seat, lost that race, and then launched a failed run as an independent for a U.S. House seat — winning just one vote, according to the