David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, urged voters to back Donald Trump in a fundraising letter sent to supporters.
Duke is running to be U.S. Senator from Louisiana. Under the state’s unusual primary rules, he is one of nine candidates vying for the seat. According to a recent poll, he has about 3% support.
In the letter, dated Oct. 6, Duke exhorts supporters to support both Trump, writing in part:
“Thank God Trump has emerged and embraced my issues such as stopping immigration, fair trade not free trade, and America First. I will be the most outspoken voice in the Senate. Nothing could have more impact than to send me to the US Senate! I will call out the craven sellouts!”
The letter, which was obtained by The Huffington Post, encourages voters to purchase blue baseball caps emblazoned with the slogan, “I’m for Duke & Trump!” Duke writes further that the establishment’s “nightmare is our American dream, for I will encourage Trump to go even further to save America!”
The former KKK leader has long been a vocal supporter of Trump. The real estate mogul drew rafts of criticism when he initially refused to disavow Duke’s support. (He did eventually.) Duke sponsored robocalls in August that criticized “Black Panther cop killers,” a theme which also appears in his October letter. (Trump’s campaign distanced itself from the calls and condemned Duke.) And Duke has praised Trump for spreading the message of white nationalism and for his victory over “Jew supremacists.”