*With Donald Trump’s presence in the White House emboldening white supremacists, a record number have infiltrated mainstream Republican politics – including the recent election of a participant in last summer’s deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.
James Allsup, 22, was voted into public office as part of Washington state’s Republican party, The Daily Beast reports. He took part in the Charlottesville rally as a member of the white supremacist group Identity Evropa, which is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and as a terrorist organization by the Anti-Defamation League.
He is now a precinct committee officer for a Spokane-area precinct and says he’s “on the way to taking over the local GOP,” according to The Daily Beast.
Immediately after being elected to the post in an uncontested vote, Allsup claimed he was attending a Spokane Republican party dinner headlined by former Rep. Jason Chaffetz. He also claimed he was scheduled to have a private meeting with an unnamed Republican member of Congress.
On Facebook, Allsup posted a photo of the certificate officially designating him as an elected GOP precinct committee officer, writing, “As of today I am officially an elected official in the state of Washington and Republican party. Cool!”
As a precinct committee officer, Allsup will serve as the link between voters in the precinct and the Republican party. Among other things, he’ll be responsible for get-out-the-vote efforts, as well as relaying to the party which issues are of importance to voters in their district.
His role also puts him in a position to help elect party leaders, run the local precinct caucus every two years, choose which ballot initiatives to endorse, and ultimately influence the selection of GOP official on a statewide basis.
Speaking on an Identity Evropa podcast, Allsup said he planned to use his new position as an elected Republican official to push “our” political agenda — referring not to the GOP’s agenda, but to that of Identity Evropa, according to shareblue.com.
According to The Spokesman-Review, Allsup was also formerly the president of the Washington State University College Republicans, but stepped down amid fallout after the Charlottesville rally.
Below, Allsup’s racist activity in Charlottesville:
White supremacists are running for office in record numbers in 2018, according to NBC News. At least eight candidates with white supremacist ties are running for national office, most of them in the Republican party. All of them are running on explicitly white nationalist messages.
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