Wizards: David Duke, America’s Wildest Election, and the Rise of the Far Right

The 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial race between ex-Klan Grand Wizard David Duke and former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards was the most closely watched statewide or local election ever. Years of racial and economic resentment, one-party rule in the state, and two controversial candidates turned a cakewalk into a hotly contested race, almost without anyone noticing. More importantly, it shook up national politics, led to a rise in the Radical Right, and influenced our current political moment. Perhaps most surprisingly, the story of the campaign and how one little-noticed Republican woman managed to almost singlehandedly rescue the state provides a galvanizing blueprint for anti-racist, pro-union, progressive Democrats, especially in the South.

In the fall of 1991, when brilliant fall foliage lit up the Kisatchie National Forest, crisp peppers, collards, and turnip greens lined the grocery aisles, and football fever swept weekend campuses, two wizards put their lunacy on hold and let everyone around them create the fireworks. Their eventual tEte-A-tEte on November 17 would mark the end of the New South and the birth of a darker yet invigorated era.