Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky

By Aiden Pink February 6, 2018

The Illinois Republican Party is exploring “all options” in its effort to thwart Arthur Jones, an anti-Semitic white supremacist and Holocaust denier who is running unopposed in the Republican primary for a Chicago-area congressional seat.

“Going forward, the Illinois Republican Party will explore all options to oppose Mr. Jones’ candidacy — whether that be supporting an independent candidate for IL-03 after the primary, encouraging a write-in campaign, and potentially other options,” Illinois Republican Party executive director Drew Collins told the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday. “Nazis have no place in our nation’s democracy, and to that end, we will continue to vehemently oppose everything Mr. Jones stands for.”

Jones, a 70-year-old retired insurance agent and perennial losing candidate, is a former leader of the American Nazi Party. His campaign website includes a section called “Holocaust?” in which he calls the genocide of six million Jews “the biggest blackest lie in history.”

Jones tried running for the Republican nomination for the same district in 2016, but the Republican party successfully challenged his petition signatures. This time, the party, as well as his two Democratic opponents, said that his signatures look genuine. Jones has no opponents in the primary to run as a Republican candidate in the heavily-Democratic district.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected]

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