Former Ku Klux Klan official David Duke may challenge House Majority Whip Steve Scalise for Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District, according to multiple reports issued Tuesday afternoon.
Retired grand wizard David Duke said he will make a final decision shortly before the July 22 ballot deadline.
“I’ve very seriously set up an exploratory committee to run for the U.S. Congress against Steve Scalise,” Duke told the Daily Beast.
Scalise has served the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain south to the Mississippi River delta since January 2009. But Duke said times have changed and Scalise’s constituents want a representative who stands up for European Americans’ rights at a time when Black Lives Matter activists have criticized police for targeting African-Americans.
“I don’t take any satisfaction in the fact that I was right, but I have been right,” Duke said. “Unless European Americans stand up, they are going to lose everything they care about in this country.”
Duke served in the state legislature nearly 30 years ago, but he was unsuccessful at later attempts to run for the U.S. Senate, a move that is typically preceded by a term in the House.
But a determined Duke said he already has a platform to run on: repealing the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act, which abolished a quota system based on national origin and established a new policy based on reuniting immigrant families and attracting skilled labor.
Duke said he sees himself as Donald Trump, but on a local level.
“I’ve said everything that Donald Trump is saying and more,” he said. “I think Trump is riding a wave of anti-establishment feeling that I’ve been nurturing for 25 years.”
