re: Does anyone know anyone who voted for David Duke?

I must confess that I voted for him.

It was 1988 and Duke was not nearly as well known like he would in the coming years.

He ran in the Democratic Primary for POTUS that year as a very minor candidate. The rest of the field included Michael Dukakis (who got the nomination), Al Gore, Dick Gephardt, Paul Simon, and Jessie Jackson.

The Dems had an open primary at that time, but the Republican primary was closed (only Republicans could vote). I was a registered Independent and it was my first presidential election to vote in at the age of 20. I was excited to cast my vote!

I was fairly informed for my age, and had watched the Democratic debates. I didn’t like any of the Dems, so I cast a vote for the Duke in protest! I knew he had no chance to win.

Regarding Duke, in truth I knew almost nothing about him. People weren’t talking too much about him yet. I only knew he was somewhat controversial because I had seen him getting boos at Free Speech Alley at LSU.

I only found out later that he was in the KKK as the Grand Wizard!

I didn’t tell people about my vote for a long time because I was embarrassed! I didn’t realize that although I was right that he had no shot at winning, every vote for Duke confirmed for other states what they thought about Louisiana- that we were as racist as they thought we were!