Dinner Table Daily

The Democratic Party had significant ties to the KKK following Reconstruction, though the full picture is more complex than a simple yes/no.
The Solid South era (1870s–1960s)
After Reconstruction ended in 1877, Southern Democrats used the KKK and other white supremacist groups as tools of political terror to suppress Black voters and Republican political power. The KKK’s founding in 1865–66 was deeply intertwined with ex-Confederate Democrats. Violence and intimidation helped Democrats retake Southern state governments throughout the 1870s.
The 1924 Democratic National Convention is a stark example — the party was so divided over whether to condemn the KKK by name that it became known as the “Klanbake.” They ultimately refused to condemn the organization. KKK membership nationally peaked around 4–6 million in the mid-1920s, with heavy overlap in Democratic-dominated Southern politics.
Notable figures like Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) were actual KKK members earlier in their lives. Many Democratic governors and senators from the South had ties to or tacit support from Klan networks.
The important caveat — the party realignment
This history requires context: the Democratic and Republican parties underwent a major ideological realignment in the mid-20th century. After FDR’s New Deal coalition and especially after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which LBJ signed), conservative white Southerners — including former Klan sympathizers — gradually shifted to the Republican Party. This is called the Southern Strategy era.
So the KKK’s political home followed voters, not a party label per se. The Klan in the late 20th and 21st centuries has been more associated with far-right politics, which today sits within the Republican coalition.
The bottom line: the historical tie between the post-Reconstruction Democratic Party and the KKK is real and well-supported by evidence. But the party that carried that legacy looks very different from today’s Democratic Party due to the realignment.