'Absurdity of gerrymandering': US Nazi is the only GOP contender for congressional seat
Holocaust denier Arthur Jones has been running for different offices since last century and failing, but in 2018 he is enjoying the spotlight. He is the only GOP candidate on the ballot for a Chicago-area congressional seat.
He is running unopposed on the ballot in the March 20 primary for Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District, which includes a section of Chicago, in addition to Western Springs and La Grange.
And social media went crazy about it, with his name among the top 10 US trends Thursday morning.
This is an abomination that people like Arthur Jones and Paul Nephlen feel empowered to be so in your face now since trump and his traitorous horde have invaded the halls of power.It is a telling sign in the demise of a nation
— Joseph A. Gomes (@JosephAGomes3) 5 February 2018
Fact that people like Arthur Jones and Paul Nehlen run in Republican primaries doesn't make #GOP a Holocaust denier party but it does make @GOP a party that Holocaust deniers feel comfortable in. https://t.co/jwrBUv2RMv
— Cas Mudde 👀 (@CasMudde) 4 February 2018
Watching Nazi, Arthur Jones, uncontested GOP candidate for IL 3rd Cong District on @NewDay. Scary crazy. Most hateful, dark-hearted, loon I remember running for office. Given last 2 years, that’s a very high-bar. Illinois GOP needs to find somebody, anybody, to challenge him.
— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) 8 February 2018
The Illinois Republican Party has publicly distanced itself from him, but it cannot prevent him from running.
“We’ve tried to do everything we possibly could to prevent this person from getting on the ballot," Illinois GOP Chairman Tim Schneider said in a statement.
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider’s statement on State Rep. Jeanne Ives' recently released campaign advertisement: #twill#ilgovpic.twitter.com/kWXJrjDKle
— IL Republican Party (@ilgop) 3 February 2018
Jones has been active since the 70s in several US Nazi organizations and once said that the Holocaust is a lie “and nothing more than an international extortion racket by the Jews,” according to the Anti-Defamation League. His campaign website includes a section entitled ‘Holocaust?’ which describes the Holocaust as “the biggest, blackest lie in history.”
Since 1998, Jones has attempted to run for Congress in Chicago at least five times.
The December filing deadline for the March primary passed with no other Republican challenging Jones.
The district is heavily dominated by Democrats. Incumbent Representative Dan Lipinski is in his seventh term and is one of the most right-wing Democrats in Congress.
And locals see it as a problem with how the election system, dominated by two parties, works.
As a writer in the local newspaper puts it, Jones’ candidacy exposes “the absurdity of gerrymandering that creates districts where a major party feels it's pointless to expend the resources fielding a serious candidate.”
Rules for candidate signatures mean that third party candidates encounter greater difficulty when seeking office.
I love living in a country where a neo-Nazi needs 600 signatures to get on the November ballot, but a progressive independent needs 15,000. #democracy#twillhttps://t.co/VxrGGpExt9
— Mateusz 'Mat' Tomkowiak (@MatForAll2018) 5 February 2018
Jones managed to get his five minutes of glory on CNN on Thursday. CNN’s Alisyn Camerota looked askance as Jones claimed live on the air that the Holocaust is “an extortion racket.”
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