A North Carolina House candidate who said “God is a racist” and Jewish people “all descend from Satan” received thousands of votes, but still lost the race to the incumbent.
Russell Walker, the Republican candidate for state House District 48, which includes Scotland and Hoke counties had more than 8,500 votes, or about 37 percent of the unofficial vote total, with all precincts reporting as of Tuesday at 11 p.m.
Walker lost to incumbent Democrat Garland Pierce, an African-American minister, who was winning by a large margin with more than 14,700 votes, or about 63 percent.
Walker performed much better than the last Republican who faced off against Pierce.
Walker received about 50 percent more votes than Pierce’s last GOP opponent, John Harry, who ran against Pierce in 2010 and received about 25 percent of the vote, according to the State Board of Elections data.
The North Carolina Republican Party withdrew its support for Walker In June, when Walker’s personal website full of racist sentiments was connected to him by the Southern Poverty Law Center and a News & Observer report.
“Based on recent behavior and previous statements, the North Carolina Republican Party is unable and unwilling to support the Republican nominated candidate for North Carolina House District 48,” GOP chairman Robin Hayes said in a statement to the N&O at the time. “The NCGOP along with our local parties in Hoke, Scotland and Robeson Counties will be spending our time and resources supporting Republican candidates that better reflect the values of our party.”
As previously reported by the N&O, Walker’s website features racism, conspiracy theories and pseudoscience, including:
▪ “What is wrong with being a white supremacist? God is a racist and a white supremacist.”
▪ “God made the races and he is the greatest racist ever.”
▪ “What is wrong with being a white supremacist?”
▪ “The Jews are not Semitic they are Satanic as they all descend from Satan.”
▪ “Someone or group has to be supreme and that group is the whites of the world ... someone or something has to be inferior ... In all history in sub-Saharan Africa, no two-story building or a waterproof boat was ever made.”
While Walker’s website domain is registered privately, he is listed as the author of multiple pieces published on it and has claimed ownership of the site in several letters to the editor published in North Carolina newspapers.
Another post on the website refers to Martin Luther King Jr. by a racial slur and adds, “MLK wanted to destroy the Caucasian race through mixing and integration. He was an agent of Satan.”
In a 2017 Spectrum News video of Walker following the dismissal of a lawsuit he filed to keep Confederate flags and portraits of Confederate generals in a South Carolina courtroom, Walker uses the same slur against King.
Walker has carried signs during a protest outside a North Carolina newspaper’s office that said “What is wrong with being a racist” and “God is racist,” The Hoke County News-Journal said.
Will Doran contributed to this report.