GOP senator urges Pence to call Duke’s ideas ‘deplorable’

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) used a closed-door meeting with GOP vice presidential nominee Mike Pence to urge him to call David Duke’s ideas “deplorable.”

The meeting took place on Tuesday as the vice presidential candidate visited Capitol Hill.

{mosads}A day earlier, Pence declined to call the former KKK leader Duke “deplorable” during an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, saying he’s “not in the name-calling business.”

“Lee emphasized that Republicans must identify David Duke’s racism as deplorable, acknowledging that he ordinarily uses terms like ‘deplorable’ to describe messages, ideas, actions and organizations, but not people,” Lee spokesman Conn Carroll said in a statement.

The meeting was also notable given Lee’s support for Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) during the GOP primaries. Cruz refused to endorse Pence’s running mate, Donald Trump, during a speech at the Republican National Convention in July.

Like Cruz, Lee is one of a handful of Senate Republicans who have so far refused to endorse Trump.

Duke is now running for a Senate seat in Louisiana. National Republicans have tried to separate themselves from Duke. The National Republican Senatorial Committee quickly denounced his candidacy, arguing it didn’t represent the party.

Lee, according to Carroll, also pushed the GOP campaign to “be explicit in its denunciation of the alt-right movement.”