The Missouri Republican Party is working to remove a Republican candidate for governor from the ballot after a photo resurfaced online of the candidate saluting in front of a burning cross.

The candidate, Darrell Leon McClanahan, is depicted in the photograph next to a person who was wearing what appear to be hooded Ku Klux Klan robes.

“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,” the party wrote on social media on Thursday.

“We have begun the process of having Mr. McClanahan removed from the ballot as a Republican candidate.”

The party’s statement said it condemned “any association with hate groups and are taking immediate action to rectify this situation. Our party upholds respect for all individuals, and we’re dedicated to addressing any challenges to these principles decisively.”

Representatives from the Missouri GOP did not immediately respond to a series of questions asking when and how it planned to remove McClanahan from the ballot.

McClanahan, in a response on social media, said “the Missouri GOP knew exactly who I am.”

“What a bunch of Anti-White hypocrites,” he wrote.

McClanahan’s name began to circulate on social media last week after the first day of candidate filings. His name still appears at the top of the list of Republican candidates for governor, according to the unofficial candidate filing list on the Missouri Secretary of State Office’s website.

Shamed Dogan, a former Republican state representative from the St. Louis area, was one of the first people to call on the party to take action. Dogan, who is Black, referred to McClanahan as a “racist loser” in a social media post.

But it’s not the first time McClanahan has run for elected office as a Republican in Missouri.

The Anti-Defamation League in a 2022 article highlighted the photo of McClanahan in front of the burning cross after he ran an unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate.

McClanahan last year filed a more than $5 million defamation suit against the organization, alleging that the group hurt his political career and demanded that the article be removed.

In court filings, McClanahan described himself as a “Pro-White man” who is “dedicated to traditional christian values.” He said in the lawsuit that he has never been a member of the KKK, but was instead provided an “Honorary 1-year membership” by a Missouri coordinator.

McClanahan in response to a request for comment from The Star sent a lengthy series of texts, alleging, in part, that “a lot of the newspapers are misquoting and making false accusations.” In one of the texts, he said that he received an honorary 1-year membership to the League of the South — which the ADL condemns as a white supremacist group.

McClanahan in the suit said that he “did attend in 2019 a private religious Christian Identity Cross lighting ceremony falsely described as a cross burning” in the ADL article. His presence, according to the suit, was in response to a Charlottesville “Unite the Right” protester who was sentenced to prison for beating up a Black man.

McClanahan, according to the suit, felt this was an unjust sentence because a “Black Defendant” received a seven-year sentence for manslaughter. A federal magistrate judge tossed the lawsuit last year, finding that McClanahan did not sufficiently allege a claim against the organization.

“The Complaint itself reflects that Plaintiff holds the views ascribed to him by the ADL article, that is the characterization of his social media presence and views as antisemitic, white supremacist, anti-government, and bigoted,” the judge wrote in the order.

The controversy surrounding McClanahan comes as Missouri Republicans are looking to hold onto control of the governor’s office after Gov. Mike Parson terms out of office. The Republican candidates include Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Sen. Bill Eigel.