Congressional candidate Arthur Jones is a Holocaust denier and former American Nazi Party leader. Image by artjonesforcongressman.com

(JTA) — The governor of Illinois has called on a neo-Nazi candidate for a Chicago-area congressional seat to drop out of the race.

Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, denounced Arthur Jones, a former leader of the American Nazi Party, but declined to endorse the opposing Democratic candidate.

His response differed from Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a former presidential candidate, who in a tweet on Friday called on Illinois voters to “write in another candidate, or vote for the Democrat” running against Jones.

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This is horrific. An avowed Nazi running for Congress. To the good people of Illinois, you have two reasonable choices: write in another candidate, or vote for the Democrat. This bigoted fool should receive ZERO votes. https://t.co/9WYlvCMKaF

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 29, 2018

Rauner on Tuesday said that the Illinois GOP and the national Republican party did everything they could to get Jones off the ballot, for which he ran uncontested. “I called [on] him to get out and he should be out, and we should have somebody run against him,” Rauner said during a stop in central Illinois, according to Politico. “There is no room, as I said right immediately when he snuck on there, there is no room in our politics for a person like that.”

Illinois Republicans have also said they will work to draft a write-in candidate for the state’s 3rd Congressional District, which is a predominantly Democratic district, for the November election, Politico reported. Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski has served the district for nearly a decade.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

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