JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A man running for Missouri governor as a Republican is facing pushback from the state's GOP after photos recently resurfaced allegedly showing his ties to the Ku Klux Klan.
The candidate, Darrell Leon McClanahan III, filed to run for Missouri governor on Feb. 27 and almost immediately faced controversy. Former Missouri Rep. Shamed Dogan tweeted a photo from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)'s website reportedly showing McClanahan with KKK party members and standing in front of a burning cross with a white-robbed man giving a Nazi salute.
"Hey @MissouriGOP I just learned the candidate listed first on our primary ballot for Governor is a cross-burning KKK member who ran for US Senate 2 years ago and freely admits his KKK membership & white supremacist beliefs," Dogan's tweet said.
A day after Dogan tweeted the picture, the Missouri GOP's official Twitter account announced the party has begun the process to remove McClanahan from the ballot as a Republican candidate.
"We condemn any association with hate groups and are taking immediate action to rectify this situation," the account said.
The photos were first posted by the ADL after McClanahan lost his bid for Missouri Senate in 2022. He also ran as a Republican in that election without pushback from the state's GOP.
McClanahan, in response, sued the ADL for defamation, claiming the league's allegations of him being a white supremacist, antisemite and KKK member were false. A judge later threw out the lawsuit, saying McClanahan had failed to prove the claims were false.
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