Royce White, who courted the MAGA wing of the Minnesota Republican Party, defeated Joe Fraser, who had the establishment backing, in Tuesday’s primary.
White, 33, who played very briefly in the NBA, led all GOP candidates with 38 percent of the vote while Fraser received 29 percent in the duel to oppose Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar in November, according to CBS.
“I’m deeply honored to have your support during this critical time in our nation’s history,” White said in a statement, according to KMSP-TV.
“For many years, Republicans have talked about expanding our tent and focusing on the Twin Cities Metro. I am committed to growing the base, bringing disenfranchised democrats into the tent, and unifying all conservatives in Minnesota. By doing this, we will deliver a victory for President Trump this November. Together we will bring the battle to unseat Amy Klobuchar.”
As CBS noted, White staged an upset at the state GOP convention and came away with the party’s nomination, Fraser initially was not going to challenge the outcome, but then changed his mind.
Muliple establishment Republicans backed Fraser, but White insisted it was time for a new direction.
“To be honest, all three of them lost their last statewide elections and they are connected to over 30 years of statewide losses in the Republican Party,” White said.
“We face an enemy that intends to bastardize our citizenship through an idea called globalism. We must begin to understand how the global affects the local and take a stand for God, Family, and Country,” White said.
“I have fought against the corporate community responsible for this globalist agenda. Send me to Washington so I can continue that fight on the Senate floor in the swamp,” he continued.
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White was named Minnesota’s Mr. Basketball in 2009 after leading his high school team to an undefeated season. White left the University of Minnesota after pleading guilty tp charges of theft and disorderly conduct at the Mall of America.
In 2012, he led Iowa State to the NCAA tournament.
White was drafted by the Houston Rockets, and played briefly for the Sacramento Kings, but his fear of flying prevented him from having an NBA career.
As noted by KARE-TV, in seeking to be the first Republican since 2006 to win a statewide race in Minnesota, White’s $133,000 is a shadow of the more than $6 million Klobuchar, a former presidential candidate, has ready to spend.
White, who was accused of posing with “racists” when he appeared at former President Donald Trump’s rally in St. Cloud on July 27, later defended Trump supporters.
“Those people in the arena Saturday up in St. Cloud at the Trump rally aren’t racist,” White said. “They just want to have a country. They just don’t want to have their country be run by liberals and communists, who say that a man can become a woman on any given day they choose.”
White’s ads warn of conspiracies uniting big companies against average Americans.
“Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Finance all conspire with the federal government to suppress and omit certain information when they see fit. We are not slaves. We are not serfs. Our children are not sexual experiments. We cannot submit to being guinea pigs for mad scientists,” he said in an ad.
