The town of Londonderry is condemning a political supporter of Don Bolduc, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, for flying a Confederate flag during the town’s old home day parade Saturday.
The Confederate flag flew from a Bolduc supporter’s military-style Jeep, which traveled as part of a convoy of Bolduc campaign vehicles in the town parade. The Jeep bore a “Bolduc for Senate” sign, several American flags, and the Gadsden Flag, in addition to the Confederate battle flag.
In a statement, Londonderry officials said by the time they became aware of the flag, it was too late to intervene without disrupting the parade, and that town officials are committed to preventing the flag from appearing in a town parade again.
“The town condemns the Confederate flag in the strongest possible terms,” read a statement from Town Council Chair John Farrell and Town Manager Michael Malaguti. “Supporters of this symbol of racism, hate, and treason will find no refuge in Londonderry.”
The Bolduc campaign, meanwhile, worked to distance itself from the incident, which it said only came to Bolduc’s attention after the parade had ended.
“Neither the individual nor the vehicle was registered by the Bolduc campaign to participate in the Londonderry parade,” said Jimmy Thompson, Bolduc’s political director. Bolduc “had a personal discussion with the gentleman about the flag, and asked him to remove his campaign sign, and he immediately complied. As someone who spent 33-plus years serving his country and 10 tours in Afghanistan fighting for freedom and liberating the oppressed, General Bolduc deplores any and all discrimination based on race, gender or anything else.”
