Arthur Jones, a Holocaust denier and former member of the American Nazi Party, won the Illinois Republican primary on Tuesday in the state's Third Congressional District, which covers a part of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs, The New York Times reported.
Jones, who won unopposed, has been denounced by his own party as a Nazi. Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider previously said in a statement that the party opposed his "racist views" and candidacy, CNN reported.
"The Illinois Republican Party and our country have no place for Nazis like Arthur Jones," he said. "We strongly oppose his racist views and his candidacy for any public office, including the [third] Congressional District."
A spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee told CNN the committee will not endorse Jones.
.ARTHUR JONES MARCH 20 IS ELECTION DAY
"I don't call myself a Nazi," Illinois candidate Arthur Jones told @CNN's @NewDay. photos in 2015 of Jones at a National Socialist Movement rally in Toledo, sporting a swastika armband & Aryan Nations pic.twitter.com/UiTKBwzrWc— Jodi * I VOTE (@papacarl1956) March 20, 2018
Have you ever considered that you might be an awful organisation, and that history will remember things like Arthur Jones’ nomination more vividly than anything else you are tweeting about? pic.twitter.com/fcLVKwBd6j— LiberalBookwormJim (@goodoldcatchy) March 21, 2018
Despite Jones's denial in an interview with CNN that he is a Nazi, according to the Anti-Defamation League, Jones has been an active participant in racist and anti-Semitic groups for decades. He has reportedly been active in the anti-Semitic Populist Party and the National Socialist White People's Party.
U.S. Representative Dan Lipinski, a conservative Democrat, narrowly won the primary race against newcomer Marie Newman, The Times reported. Jones will face off against Lipinski in the 2018 midterm election.
