Illinois Republicans selected Arthur Jones, a Holocaust denier and actual Nazi to appear on the November ballot as the GOP candidate against Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski in Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District (one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress, who narrowly won his primary over a progressive candidate, Marie Newman, who had the backing of progressive groups as well as Sen. Bernie Sanders).
Arthur Jones has become campaign fodder for Democrats as they seek to defeat Gov. Bruce Rauner. And some Republicans even fear the taint from Jones‘ extremist views poses a threat to the party up and down the ticket. ‘I snookered them’: Illinois Nazi candidate creates GOP dumpster fire:
Jones, who told POLITICO he’s running to counter a “two-party, Jew-party, queer-party system,” laughed when he was informed the GOP was unable to put up a candidate against him.
“They didn’t put up a third-party candidate?” Jones asked when reached by phone Thursday. “That’s great! That’s fantastic!
“I snookered them,” he said of state Republicans. “I played by the rules, what can I say?”
Illinois Republican Party spokesman Aaron DeGroot said the party instead plans to recruit and support a write-in candidate for the general election.