1. Background

2. 1988 Democratic Primaries

3. Populist Party

4. Popular culture

5. References

David Duke, a Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan and notable perennial candidate, was a candidate for President of the United States in the 1988 election. His run was notable in that after failing to gain traction in the Democratic primaries he switched and became the candidate for the Populist Party and he won the 1988 New Hampshire Vice-Presidential primary.

Background

David Duke was a Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan from 1974 to 1980 which he was inspired to join after meeting William Luther Pierce, the leader of the white nationalist and antisemitic National Alliance.

After failing to win Louisiana State Senate elections in 1975 and 1979 David Duke started his first presidential campaign for the Democratic nomination in 1980 where he would found the National Association for the Advancement of White People but he quickly withdrew from the election due to a series of highly publicized violent Klan incidents.

1988 Democratic Primaries

Duke announced his presidential campaign to win the Democratic nomination for the 1988 presidential election on . Duke, a white supremacist hated the black civil rights activist Jesse Jackson and his "Rainbow Coalition" and he claimed to command his "Sunshine Coalition" in opposition.^[1] Duke lost in his home state of Louisiana to Jesse Jackson where he only received 4% of the vote^[2] but Duke managed to win the 1988 New Hampshire Vice-Presidential primary in a landslide with 10,531 votes for 99.69% of the vote.^[3] After failing to gain any traction in the Democratic primaries he dropped out and became the presidential candidate for the Populist Party.

Populist Party

On March 7, 1987 David Duke gave his speech at the Populist Party National Committee in Sewickly, Pennsylvania in which he said "This was the largest pro-white demonstration I`ve ever seen," in regards to the 3,000 people there and "There are going to be tremendous opportunities to take this country back for the founding majority".<sup>[4]</sup> Duke had managed to take the nomination due to the Populist Party`s financial and organizational failures at the time which caused him to run unopposed after all of his opponents had already stopped running.^[5] In the 1988 election Duke ran with Floyd Parker, while in other states it was Trenton Stokes and received 47,047 votes, for 0.04 percent of the national popular vote with his best showing being in his home state of Louisiana where he won 1% of the vote.

Popular culture

In the television series Parks and Recreation episode "Practice Date," it is revealed that character Donna Meagle donated to Duke's 1988 campaign after receiving a phone call from the campaign, which told her that Duke planned to lower taxes. The 2018 film BlacKKKlansman stars a fictional David Duke organizing events and makes various references to his presidential run.

References

• Keith Fleming
• Keith Flowers
• Keith Follese
• Keith Follesé
• Keith Forsyth (activist)
• Keith Fowler
• Keith Francis Slater
• Keith Frazier
• Keith Frazier (musician)
• Keith Frazier (Musician)
• Keith Frederick Chater
• Keith Freeman
• Keith Gagnon
• Keith Garagozzo
• Keith Gardom
• Keith Gattis (album)
• Keith Gehling
• Keith George Wilson
• Keith, Georgia
• Keith Gibson (footballer)
• Keith Gibson (New Zealand footballer)
• Keith Giffen (footballer)
• Keith Gilkes
• Keith Gingery
• Keith Glass