As a rule, the backgrounds of first-time state legislative candidates tend not to generate national headlines, but once in a while, there are important exceptions. Talking Points Memo reported this week:

The Republican nominee for a seat in the Florida House of Representatives marched alongside neo-Nazis at the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a new Talking Points Memo investigation can reveal.

Marshall Rawson — who won an upset victory in Florida’s District 10 Republican primary last month — attended the infamous Charlottesville rally, considered the largest white supremacist gathering in a generation, marching with the League of the South, a racist and antisemitic neo-Confederate group that advocates for the secession of southern states from the U.S.

The same TPM report noted that the Florida Republican had received campaign donations from “dozens of people with either established ties to white nationalist organizations or well-documented histories of extremist, racist activism,” and used to operate a pseudonymous social media account “that he used to advocate public lynchings.”

By way of an explanation, Rawson made no effort to contest the reporting. Rather, he described himself to TPM as having been “very active defending historical monuments,” adding that he doesn’t screen his campaign donors.

His written statement did not address his role at the Charlottesville rally.

The story comes just days after Republican Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio fired his political director after learning that he had posted a photo of Nazi soldiers as his profile picture on Facebook.

That story came on the heels of Republican Rep. Mike Collins, the GOP’s Senate nominee in Georgia, parting ways with a staffer who shared images via social media earlier this summer of a swastika and one that depicted himself in Ku Klux Klan robes.

That story came on the heels of the Trump State Department hiring a staffer who was let go from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign after promoting a video with Nazi imagery.

That story came on the heels of the Trump administration rewarding Paul Ingrassia with a prominent post at the General Services Administration despite his saying he had a “Nazi streak.”

Amid growing concerns about the radicalization of Republican politics, the unsubtle pattern speaks for itself. Whether GOP leaders are prepared to offer some kind of explanation for this — or whether they’ll even be asked — remains to be seen.

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