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David Duke, Ex-K.K.K. Leader, to Seek Senate Seat in Louisiana David Duke, Ex-K.K.K. Leader, to Seek Senate Seat in Louisiana
(about 2 hours later)
David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, announced a campaign on Friday to seek a United States Senate seat in Louisiana, where he will try to capitalize on a history of inflammatory speech and on the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump. David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, embarked on a campaign on Friday to seek a United States Senate seat as a Republican in Louisiana, where he will try to capitalize on his history of inflammatory speech and on the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump.
Mr. Duke, who is running as a Republican, served as a Louisiana state representative and has run unsuccessfully for the State Senate, governor of Louisiana, Congress and president. He joined a sprawling field for the Senate seat being vacated by David Vitter, a Republican, intensifying what was already poised to be a raucous race. The decision by Mr. Duke, a former state representative whose unsuccessful campaigns include bids for Congress, governor and president, thrust him into a sprawling field for the Senate seat and intensified what was already poised to be a raucous race.
But before Mr. Duke could even file his qualifying paperwork in Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana, Republicans there and in Washington were distancing themselves from a campaign they plainly expected to be marked by racism and anti-Semitism.
“I believe in equal rights for all and respect for all Americans,” Mr. Duke said in a campaign video. “However, what makes me different is I also demand respect for the rights and the heritage of European Americans.”“I believe in equal rights for all and respect for all Americans,” Mr. Duke said in a campaign video. “However, what makes me different is I also demand respect for the rights and the heritage of European Americans.”
Mr. Duke also said that “European Americans need at least one man in the United States Senate — one man in the Congress — who will defend their rights and heritage.” Mr. Duke, who said that “thousands of special- interest groups stand up for African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Jewish-Americans, etc., etc., etc.,” also declared that “European Americans need at least one man in the United States Senate — one man in the Congress — who will defend their rights and heritage.”
Mr. Duke will be one of about two dozen candidates vying to succeed Mr. Vitter. Some Republicans in Louisiana immediately distanced themselves from Mr. Duke. More than 20 people have entered the race to succeed Senator David Vitter, a Republican, who is stepping down, during this week’s qualifying period. But none drew as much vitriol and condemnation as Mr. Duke, who pleaded guilty in 2002 to federal tax and fraud charges and has been described the Southern Poverty Law Center as “the most recognizable figure of the American radical right.”
A spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, Hope Hicks, said in an email on Friday that “Mr. Trump has disavowed David Duke and will continue to do so.”
Republican officials in Louisiana also stressed that they would not support Mr. Duke.
“The Republican Party opposes, in the strongest possible terms, David Duke’s candidacy for any public office,” the chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party, Roger F. Villere Jr., said in a statement. “David Duke is a convicted felon and a hate-filled fraud who does not embody the values of the Republican Party.”“The Republican Party opposes, in the strongest possible terms, David Duke’s candidacy for any public office,” the chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party, Roger F. Villere Jr., said in a statement. “David Duke is a convicted felon and a hate-filled fraud who does not embody the values of the Republican Party.”
The state party, Mr. Villere said, “will play an active role in opposing David Duke’s candidacy.”The state party, Mr. Villere said, “will play an active role in opposing David Duke’s candidacy.”
The executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Ward Baker, said that Mr. Duke would not receive his organization’s support “under any circumstance.” Yet Mr. Duke argued Friday that his long-held and contentious views had merged recently into the mainstream of American political behavior and thought.
But Mr. Duke argued Friday that his views had merged into the mainstream of American political behavior and thought. “I’m overjoyed to see Donald Trump and most Americans embrace most of the issues that I’ve championed for years,” said Mr. Duke, who had an early foray in politics as a supporter of George Wallace, the Alabama governor whose name remains synonymous with segregation.
“I’m overjoyed to see Donald Trump and most Americans embrace most of the issues that I’ve championed for years,” Mr. Duke said. The matter of how Mr. Duke and Mr. Trump regard each other surfaced during this year’s Republican primary season. Mr. Trump was criticized in February for wavering in his public statements about his knowledge of Mr. Duke, who had expressed support for Mr. Trump’s campaign, and whether he disavowed him.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Duke have had a complex public relationship. In February, Mr. Trump was roundly criticized for not immediately disavowing Mr. Duke during a television interview. Within days, Mr. Trump, who had denounced Mr. Duke more than a decade earlier, described the Louisianian as “a bad person.”
Days later, Mr. Trump described Mr. Duke as “a bad person.”
A spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, Hope Hicks, said Friday that, “Mr. Trump has disavowed David Duke and will continue to do so.”