SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — A GOP candidate is defending calling himself a white nationalist but is withdrawing his name from Georiga's 6th District Congressional race.
"It is with a heavy heart, I Donnie Bolena, am officially withdrawing my name as a candidate for Congress," announced Donnie Bolena in a 22-minute Facebook Live video from last weekend.
The announcement comes a few days after Bolena admitted referring to himself as a "white nationalist," according to multiple reports.
“I said I was a proud white nationalist. Due to the shootings that happened in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas," he said in the video. "I was very aggravated and very mad at the way the liberal media comes after conservatives. It comes after our Second Amendment.”
In the lengthy video, Bolena claimed that CNN was working to break a story on him, and Republican party officials contacted him and asked him to think about "what is best for the party." A story on Bolena from the outlet has yet to be posted.
"I didn't want to quit and I didn't want to drop out and I fought it, fought it, fought it," he said.
“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. "They will use this to hurt every Republican that is running nationally."
In the video, Bolena defended calling himself a white nationalist, saying it's not a "bad word."
"I said, 'I am a white nationalist. I am a white man - a proud white man - and I am a nationalist," he said in the video.
Bolena said he ultimately made the decision to drop out because of his family. He added he will be hosting a podcast instead.
The primary election for the house race is on May 19, 2020. The seat is currently held by Rep. Lucy McBath. Other Republican candidates running in the primary for the 6th District seat according to Ballotpedia include Brandon Beach, Kenneth Brown, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Karen Handle and Nicole Rodden.
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