Missouri secretary of state says he does not have authority to block gubernatorial candidate Darrell McClanahan from running – despite his KKK affiliation and picture of him doing Nazi salute at cross-burning
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has claimed he cannot stop a KKK-linked man from running for governor, saying it would be ‘too much authority to have in one person’s hands’.
Darrell Leon McClanahan III, of Milo, Missouri, who had an honorary KKK membership, filed this month to run in the Republican primary for governor as one of eight Republican candidates.
His decision was met with widespread anger and calls for his application to be blocked after images of him doing a Nazi salute at a cross-burning were uncovered.
But Republican Ashcroft has now told the Kansas City Star that a 2014 court decision means he is powerless to stop him from adding his name to the August ballot.
Despite damning photos showing McClanahan doing the salute next to a burning cross, Ashcroft said he doesn’t think he should be ‘judge, jury and executioner’.
In the left picture, McClanahan (center) is shown with Knights of the KKK Party leaders Thomas and Jason Robb. On the right, he is pictured beside a hooded Klansman at a cross burning in 2019
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (pictured) says he doesn’t have the authority to block McClanahan from the ballot
He added: ‘I think that’s too much authority to have in one person’s hands.’
A ruling following the 2014 Missouri Vowell v Kander case found that the secretary of state has no power to decide on the qualifications of candidates under state law.
The Missouri Republican party has moved to block McClanahan from running.
They said earlier this month: ‘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.’
They then filed a lawsuit seeking to block Ashcroft from certifying McClanahan’s name on the ballot, claiming they had asked Ashcroft to remove him, ‘but he refused to do so’.
Ashcroft said that despite not blocking him personally, he is glad the party are seeking to remove him.
He said: ‘I don’t want members of the Ku Klux Klan that are associating with the Republican Party…they believe different things than I do.
‘I wish that we had processes to vet candidates to make sure that this wouldn’t happen. But I am glad that they are going to court to make sure that he will not be a representative of the Republican Party on the ballot.’
The party disavowed McClanahan after a photo emerged showing him with two leaders of the KKK and next to a burning cross.
McClanahan previously ran last cycle for an open Senate seat in Missouri. He garnered 0.2 percent of the vote in a contest ultimately won by now-Senator Eric Schmitt.
McClanahan has insisted to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he is ‘not a Nazi’ despite the photo
In 2022, the Anti-Defamation League published an article that included a picture of McClanahan with two men described as Knights Party leaders – the ‘Knights of the Ku Klux Klan’ is a modern offshoot of the KKK.
Another picture seemingly shows McClanahan at a 2019 cross burning.
In the picture, McClanahan stands beside a person wearing a white KKK robe and pointed hat. Both men have their right arm raise in what appears to be a Nazi salute.
Earlier this month, McClanahan told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he is ‘not a Nazi.’
‘I don’t believe in heil Hitler,’ he said, claiming the photo is merely ‘a bad picture of me.’
With regard to the photo of himself with the Knights leaders, McClanahan said: ‘That’s me. Yeah, that’s me.’
McClanahan sued the ADL last year for defamation in a case that was transferred to the US District Court for the Western District of Missouri before being dismissed in December.
Though the Missouri GOP claim they accepted his filing fee unknowingly, McClanahan says they knew exactly who he was when he registered to run
In his original petition to the court, McClanahan described himself as a ‘Pro-White man, horseman, politician, political prisoner-activist who is dedicated to traditional Christian values.’
The suit goes on to claim that McClanahan does not belong to the KKK. Though, it subsequently says he was ‘provided an Honorary one-year membership.’
McClanahan attempted to clarify to the Post-Dispatch that the membership was referring to the League of the South – a self-proclaimed ‘southern nationalist’ group that advocates for the ‘cultural as well as political secession’ of the former Confederate states.
The petition also seems to address the cross-burning picture, which is referred to as a ‘private religious Christian Identity Cross lighting ceremony’ in 2019.
Former state Representative Shamed Dogan, who was the sole black Republican lawmaker in the state legislature while he was in office, highlighted the McClanahan issue to the state party on X.
‘Hey @MissouriGOP 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,’ he wrote, adding that the body should reject the wannabe politician’s filing fee.
‘Please tell me you’re gonna … reject this racist loser’s filing fee?’ he said.
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