An airplane was spotted Thursday flying over the North Charleston, South Carolina GOP presidential debate site with a large Confederate battle flag and the message, "No votes for turncoats."
A new group calling itself Save Southern Heritage took credit for the message,
The Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston reports.
The group's spokesman Charles Lunsford told the paper he wanted the candidates to see the message and ask the American people to leave them alone.
South Carolina was the center of the battle to remove the Confederate flag and memorials from public property in 2015 after Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white man, was charged with killing nine members of North Charleston's historic black Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
"This is a message to Mrs. Haley and the other GOP traitors who turned their back on the average SC voter by bringing down the Confederate Memorial flag at the Statehouse Confederate Memorial," a press release from the group read. "We will not forget this treason!"
Gov. Nikki Haley supported the effort that brought down the flag from the Statehouse grounds after the shooting.
According to Mediaite, another group called The Virginia Flaggers also have used the "No votes for turncoats" phrase in support of the flag.
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