A former Ku Klux Klan leader has qualified to run for office in North Georgia.
Chester Doles once held the title of Grand Klaliff of the Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and now he wants to be a Lumpkin County commissioner.
Most of his leadership experience is in what he calls “white activism.” He was a member of the Nazi political organization, National Alliance and Hammerskins, a racist skinhead gang. Doles also served time in prison for beating a Black man.
Doles, however, said he is reformed and has repented for his past racial transgressions with the help of another Republican and Black preacher, Derrick Grayson. He told CBS46 if the late civil rights activists Hosea Williams and U.S. Rep. John Lewis could run for office, so could he.
“If you look at Hosea Williams, he was on the City Council. He was arrested 168 times. Congressman John Lewis, he was arrested 68 times, so that’s not a reason to disqualify someone,” Doles said. “Don’t matter if you’re out there for the civil rights movement, then I’m a white civil rights activist then.”
In September 2019, Doles told 11Alive News he was a fourth-generation Klansman raised with the signature white robes hanging as heirlooms. He participated in the 2017 Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which led to the death of a counterprotester.
Doles was convicted on federal charges in 1993 and served four years in prison for beating a Black man. He also served four years for federal weapons charges, starting in 2003. Doles told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the incidents were each “misunderstandings or extenuating circumstances.”
Doles was arrested In 2016 because of a brawl in a local bar, where authorities reportedly identified him as a leader in the Hammerskins. He was sentenced to probation. Doles told reporters in 2020 he “renounced racism.”
Doles said he now runs a new organization called Patriots USA. It has a political agenda that echoes the current talking points of some Republicans. He also opposes critical race theory and the Black Lives Matter movement.
“This sick insane culture of wokeness is destroying America. These people want us gone. We American patriots are the new most endangered species,” Doles reportedly told to a small crowd on the campaign trail.
As a Lumpkin County Board of Commissioners member, Doles will be part of the policy-making body for a county of 33,488 residents in north-central Georgia. The current board of the rural county consists of only white men. U.S. Census data shows the population is 90.6 percent white only.
Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior political scientist with the RAND Corp., told the AJC that candidates with Doles’ background see opportunity in the current political climate because of the circulation of disinformation on social media and divisive rhetoric among parties.
“For candidates who are in the extreme wings of a party, this is an environment in which they see opportunities,” she said. “If you can wrap yourself in the cloak of a party, … you can win a pretty sizable support base, even if you have other factors that would previously be disqualifying.”
Doles, in a March 8 tweet, said he is now fully qualified for the Lumpkin County commission candidacy. The primary election is scheduled for May 24.
