His politics and writings are largely devoted to promoting conspiracy theories about Jews , such as Holocaust denial and Jewish control of academia, the press, and the financial system. Duke unsuccessfully ran as a Democratic candidate for state legislature during the s and s, culminating in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
After failing to gain any traction within the Democratic Party, he gained the presidential nomination of the minor Populist Party. In December , he became a Republican and claimed to have become a born-again Christian , nominally renouncing antisemitism and racism. He then ran unsuccessful but competitive campaigns for several more offices, including United States Senate in and governor of Louisiana in His campaigns were denounced by national and state Republican leaders, including President George H.
He mounted a minor challenge to President Bush in By the late s, Duke had abandoned his pretense of rejecting racism and antisemitism, and began to openly promote racist and neo-Nazi viewpoints.
He then began to devote himself to writing about his political views, both in newsletters and later on the Internet. In his writings, he denigrates African Americans and other ethnic minorities, and promotes conspiracy theories about a Jewish plot to control America and the world.
During the s, Duke defrauded his political supporters by pretending to be in dire financial straits and soliciting money for basic necessities. At the time, he was in fact financially secure and used the money for recreational gambling. During , they lived a short time in the Netherlands before settling in an all-white area of New Orleans , Louisiana , in Ganus School, a conservative Church of Christ-sponsored school. He said his segregationist awakening started during his research for an eighth-grade project at this school.
