In every election, there are several candidates from both parties who would be more at home in jail or a loony bin than on the campaign trail (Chelsea Manning, anyone?). So it’s hardly a surprise that a genuine white supremacist and Holocaust denier will be on the ballot in Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District this November.
Arthur Jones, who refers to the “Holocaust racket” on his website, will face off against Democrat Dan Lipinski in November.
This is not Jones’ first attempt to win office. He has been running in various races for 30 years, never getting close. But no Republican entered the primary except Jones, handing him the nomination by default.
Jones, 70, a retired insurance agent who lives in suburban Lyons, has unsuccessfully run for elected offices in the Chicago area and Milwaukee since the 1970s.
He ran for Milwaukee mayor in 1976 and 13th Ward alderman on Chicago’s Southwest Side in 1987.
Since the 1990s to 2016, Jones has jumped in the GOP 3rd Congressional District primary seven times, never even close to becoming a viable contender.
The outcome will be different for Jones in the Illinois primary on March 20, 2018.
To Jones’ own amazement, he is the only one on the Republican ballot.
To quote that famous philosopher Chester A. Riley, “What a revoltin’ development.” The idea of this turd representing the GOP is too much to contemplate for party leaders:
Tim Schneider, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, said in a statement to the Sun-Times, “The Illinois Republican Party and our country have no place for Nazis like Arthur Jones. We strongly oppose his racist views and his candidacy for any public office, including the 3rd Congressional District.”
Jones told the Sun-Times he is a former leader of the American Nazi Party and now heads a group called the America First Committee. “Membership in this organization is open to any white American citizen of European, non-Jewish descent,” he said.
The ADL has had Jones on their radar for years:
“Arthur Jones, who proudly displays Holocaust denial, xenophobia and racism on his blog and website, has a long history of hateful, extremist and anti-Semitic views,” said Lonnie Nasatir, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Chicago-Upper Midwest Region.
“For example, in 2009, he protested the opening of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, and continues to espouse absurd conspiracy theories questioning the deaths of millions of Jews.
“He has spoken publicly at numerous neo-Nazi rallies and events, expressing xenophobic policies based in racial and religious hatred. He is, by every definition, an anti-Semite and unrepentant bigot.”
It’s not like the GOP didn’t try to oust Jones from the ballot. They successfully challenged his petitions in 2016, leaving Lipinski to run unopposed in the general election. But Jones was apparently a lot more careful in gathering signatures this year and the state party could find no valid legal reason to keep him off the ballot.
In case Democrats think they can link Jones to national Republicans, the Holocaust denier made it clear he is no Trump supporter:
Jones said in his Pikeville address, according to a video on YouTube, he was sorry he voted for President Donald Trump, who has “surrounded himself with hordes of Jews” including his Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Democrats may not have a lot of Holocaust deniers running on their party label, but they have their fair share of convicts, kooks, and crazies seeking office at every level. It has always been a part of the color and uniqueness of American politics that anyone can step up and run for office — even if you’re a few shakes short of a martini.
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