Gay candidate in Florida says he received threatening letter from KKK

An openly gay city council candidate in Cape Coral, Fla., says he received threatening letters from a branch of the Ku Klux Klan. 

James Schneider said the Ku Klos Knights, a branch of the Klan, left threatening letters on his and his partner’s doorstep on Saturday. 

“We know where you live f—-t. We are going to win. Quit now,” the letter read. 

{mosads}

“When you girls least expect it, We will be here for a nice visit,” the letter continued. 

Schneider described himself as “gay, Jewish, German” to The News-Press, a South Florida newspaper.

Schneider said the couple received another letter. He posted both letters to Facebook on Wednesday. 

“They got their opportunity to scare us, but not quitting this election. I am the qualified candidate, not the popular one,” Schneider wrote in the post. 

“We’ve experienced an upsetting situation in the past days, which caused us to pull in, make serious decisions about our future, this campaign, etc.,” Schneider said in a separate Facebook post.

“The media is involved and will be sharing in the coming days. … We are shaken but not beaten. Watch for details in the coming days. Thank you so much for those who have huddled around us at this time,” he continued.

“We live in a messed up country.” 

A spokesperson for the Cape Coral Police Department told NBC News they are investigating the letters and said claims the KKK was involved are still unverified.

“The only connection to the KKK thus far, is unverified claims of affiliation by the flyer’s author. We have not had any significant incidents of organized hate groups committing criminal activity in Cape Coral,” the spokesperson said. 

The alleged incident comes after last month’s violence in Charlottesville, Va., spurred by a white supremacist rally. A man with ties to hate groups allegedly drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one woman and injuring others.

The rally was attended by members of the Klan, including former grand wizard David Duke.