In a recent interview, conservative political operative Karl Rove said he’s voting for a Democrat in the upcoming midterms, breaking three decades of precedent exclusively supporting Republicans, and lamented the GOP’s embrace of far-right individuals.

“My party is being infiltrated by people like Bo French,” Rove said in an interview with The Texas Tribune. Weeks earlier, Rove described French, the Republican candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner, as a “bigot,” after he posted several xenophobic social media posts taking aim at students of color celebrating a college football game. Earlier in September, the Tribune reported that Rove planned to vote for French’s rival, state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston, in the race that will regulate the Texas oil and gas industry.

Rove also decried the relationship between Texas Republicans and a right-wing podcaster. “Nick Fuentes goes to Dallas and meets with a bunch of Republican leaders. This guy is a Nazi,” Rove said.

Rove served as a senior advisor and deputy chief of staff during George W. Bush’s presidency, in which he was described as “the architect” of Bush’s re-election campaign. Rove has also been credited for the successful campaigns of Sens. John Ashcroft, R-Mo., John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Texas Gov. Bill Clements, among others. So he may be qualified to weigh in on the Senate race between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and former state Rep. James Talarico. 

Start your day with essential news from Salon.
Sign up for our free morning newsletter, Crash Course.

“If John Cornyn were the nominee, this race would be over,” Rove told the Tribune. Cornyn lost the Texas primary to Paxton after the latter received an endorsement from President Donald Trump. “But when you got a guy who’s got multiple girlfriends, $200,000 worth of improvements in his house from a corrupt business guy for whom he does favors … and now it’s in the court of public opinion. If this were not out there, this would be a normal Republican versus Democrat.”  

Rove did not say whether or not he’d vote for Paxton.

The post GOP has a “Nazi” problem, Karl Rove says appeared first on Salon.com.

This week I asked 28 current and former Republican Party officials in Florida whether they would denounce an unrepentant white supremacist in their ranks, a man who will appear on the ballot this November as a member of the GOP.