Image by Wikimedia Commons

By David Ian Klein December 14, 2020

Sen. Kelly Loeffler has condemned a white supremacist with whom she posed for a photo, her campaign told the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Sunday.

Loeffler is the Republican incumbent who is running against Rev. Raphael Warnock, in a runoff race for her Georgia senate seat, set for January 5.

The pictured man was Chester Doles, a former Ku Klux Klan leader, who was convicted in the 1993 beating of a Black man, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

ALERT: Kelly Loeffler just posed for a photo with Chester Doles, a former KKK leader who runs the white supremacist American Patriots USA.

In 1993, Doles nearly beat a Black man to death.

In 2017, he marched in Charlottesville.

This is who @KLoeffler is proudly appealing to. pic.twitter.com/4YZcvL05rf

— Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@jewishaction) December 13, 2020

“Kelly had no idea who that was,” Stephen Lawson, Loeffler’s campaign spokesman, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “if she had, she would have kicked him out immediately because we condemn in the most vociferous terms everything that he stands for.”

Earlier this year, Doles also posed for photos with Marjorie Taylor Green, an incoming congresswoman from Georgia, known for her support of the antisemitic QAnon conspiracy theory. However, at a later rally for both Green and Loeffler, Doles was ejected.

Doles is affiliated with the Hammerskins, a white supremacist group who are “one of the oldest hardcore racist skinhead groups in the United States and have a history of violence,” according to the Anti-Defamation League.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $325,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount