Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke talks to the media at the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office in Baton Rouge, La., on Friday, July 22, 2016, after registering to run for the U.S. Senate, saying “the cli…”
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“I’m proud to announce my candidacy for the United States Senate”, Duke said in a video.
Vitter said he will defend the rights of “European Americans” if elected.
Duke, an avowed racist, who once said that American society’s “clear goal must be the advancement of the white race”, cited a New York Times article that, he claims, “admitted that [Duke’s] platform became the Republican mainstream and propelled Republicans to control of Congress”.
In his video, Duke, who claimed he popularized the phrase, said he would stand up for “European Americans” and fight against their “ethnic cleansing”.
Ward Baker, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which supports Republican candidates in Senate races, said Duke will never get the organization’s backing.
Duke has called the Black Lives Matter movement that regularly organizes protests against the deaths of black people by police officers a “terrorist group”.
Louisiana’s fall ballot is going to be a long one, as competitors trying to reach Washington crammed the races for open U.S. House and Senate seats during the three-day qualifying period that ended Friday.
Raymond Jetson, an African-American pastor in Baton Rouge who served in the state Legislature during the same time as Duke.
Mr Duke, a convicted criminal, pleaded guilty in 2002 to bilking his supporters and cheating on his taxes. For those too young to remember, Duke gained political legitimacy in 1989 by registering as a Republican and winning a special election to the Louisiana House of Representatives. He is running as a republican, but the Louisiana GOP has condemned his campaign, calling him a “hate-filled fraud”.
“The recurrence of a cancer like David Duke was encouraged and made possible by the toxic climate of racism and fear-mongering dominating the Republican party in this election cycle”. Duke has openly supported Trump since February of this year, and Trump has been criticized by both parties for not disavowing Duke’s support. If Duke manages to squeeze into the Senate runoff this year – and that’s a distinct possibility with so many candidates in the race – we could see a new twist on that famous bumper sticker: “Vote against the crook – it’s important”.
Hence, the quick disowning of David Duke on Friday.
“There’s a great deal of racial unrest in the country, and he may capitalise on it”, Mr Edwards said.
After all, he has not run for office in roughly seventeen years, 1999 and then, against David Vitter and David Treen. He spent a year in federal prison, but later denied any wrongdoing.
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A central campaign theme of Duke’s looks very likely to be a brand of white nationalism, though one less subtle than Trump’s version.
