GOP Georgia congressional candidate withdraws after calling himself a ‘white nationalist’

A Republican candidate for Rep. Lucy McBath’s (D-Ga.) seat said in a video posted to Facebook Saturday that he was withdrawing after identifying himself as a white nationalist.

“Some of it was self-inflicted. Some of it wasn’t. My account was hacked. Things have taken place,” Donnie Bolena said in the video, referencing an allegation that he sexually propositioned a woman online, which he has said was due to the “hack.”

Last week, Bolena said in the video, “I said I was a proud white nationalist. Due to the shootings that happened in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, I was very aggravated and very mad at the way the liberal media comes after conservatives. It comes after our Second Amendment.”

{mosads}Bolena says President Trump’s reelection campaign reached out to the Georgia Republican Party after the remarks.

“I was told, ‘Donnie, if you stay in it, and CNN breaks this story, you’re going to hurt President Trump, and you’re going to hurt District 6, and you’re going to hurt the country. They will use this to destroy every Republican,’ ” he said.

Bolena continued to defend his words in the video, saying he had discussed the matter with the chairs of both the state party and the Fulton County Republican Party.

“I said, I am so sick of being attacked for being white. Why are white people apologizing for being white? … I don’t see no black people out there apologizing for being black. And I don’t see no Asian people out there apologizing for being Asian. I don’t get it,” Bolena said.

He said Saturday that CNN was “about to break a story on me,” although a search of CNN’s website for his name returns no results.

Several other GOP candidates are currently competing to face off against McBath in 2020, including former Rep. Karen Handel, whom McBath unseated in 2018.

The Hill has reached out to the Fulton County Republican Party and the Georgia Republican Party for comment.