Bo Gritz was initially selected to serve as his vice-presidential running mate, but withdrew as he had been told that Representative James Traficant was given the presidential nomination, not Duke.

David Duke became the Grand Wizard of the white supremacist Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in 1974 and held the position until 1980.

Despite being six years younger than the required 35 years of age to run for president, Duke attempted to place his name onto the ballot in twelve states stating that he wanted to be a power broker who could "select issues and form a platform representing the majority of this country" at the Democratic National Convention.

[13] A week later he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of a roadway from when he was involved in an incident during a civil rights march in Forsyth County in January.

[14] Duke and Representative Pat Schroeder were excluded from a primary debate hosted on Firing Line and sponsored by PBS.

[18] He filed another lawsuit against the Democratic Party for not allowing him to participate at the debate at Tulane University stating that his right to freedom of speech was violated which was worth $100 million due to his demands of $10,000 for every registered Democratic voter in Louisiana, $1 million for his presidential committee, and $10,000 for each day he was denied "his candidacy equal rights".

[23][24] He appeared on the Democratic primary ballot in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia.

"[33] On March 7, 1987, Duke gave a speech at the Populist Party National Committee in Sewickly, Pennsylvania, in which he said "This was the largest pro-white demonstration I've ever seen," in regards to the 3,000 people there and "There are going to be tremendous opportunities to take this country back for the founding majority".

He stated that he wouldn't seek the presidency outside of the major parties and that there was no honor in running "some kind of abortive effort".

[38][39] Duke had managed to take the nomination due to the Populist Party's financial and organizational failures at the time which caused him to run unopposed after all of his opponents had already withdrawn from the race.

[41] The platform of the Populist Party called for the repealing of the income tax and the abolition of the Federal Reserve.

[44] Duke opposed affirmative action stating that "white people face the most intensive racial discrimination literally in the last 100 years".

Duke stated about racism that "if you define a racist as a person who simply loves his own people and wants to preserve his own heritage and his own values, then I would say that I was one".

[33] Duke also stated that desegregation busing and affirmative action caused a "terrible decline" in America's educational system.

[43] Duke stated that "the homosexual lobby is preventing a frank discussion of AIDS and appropriate steps to suppress the epidemic".

[44] On December 5, 1988, Duke changed his political affiliation to Republican and ran in a special election for a seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives, which he won on February 18, 1989.

[50] He initially considered launching an independent third-party presidential campaign using the Republican primary as a springboard, but chose not to continue his campaign after he dropped out of the Republican primaries on April 19, 1992, stating that "Perot's candidacy would preclude other third-party candidacies".