text: I am sorry, I did not let you know that I did read your reference and at least 4 others. While your reference is from the Southern Poverty Law Center, a hard left group, they were fairly accurate but did not point out political affiliation in great detail. Many other sources, including Wikipedia, did note political affiliation. KKK was formed and had three separate strong time frames. In the first two, they were exclusively democratic. In the third, they were almost entirely democratic with a few others, not affiliated with a party. The Dixiecrats were very strong with KKK support in the south until the 60's. When the Dixiecrats failed to have success in their bid for president, four of them switched party to become republicans and the hundreds of other remained with the democratic party. Strom Thurmond was their presidential nominee but was one of the four who switched and over time he moderated his views as they evolved. The same views that moderated and evolved for Robert Byrd.