Holocaust-denying Republican nominee: ‘I snookered’ GOP

A Holocaust denier who is running as a Republican in a Chicago-area congressional district says he “snookered” the GOP.

Arthur Jones, an avowed Nazi, made the comments to Politico on Thursday in reference to Illinois Republicans’ inability to qualify a third-party candidate for the general election before the deadline passed this week. 

This came after Republicans failed to recruit someone to challenge Jones in a May primary for the heavily Democratic district. In addition, the GOP failed to get him off the primary ballot and was unable to field a write-in candidate against him in the primary.

{mosads}”They didn’t put up a third-party candidate?” Jones reportedly asked. “That’s great! That’s fantastic!” 

He added that he “snookered them. I played by the rules, what can I say?”

Jones is facing Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) in this year’s midterm elections after running unopposed in a May primary. His chances of winning are low, but his candidacy has some Republicans fearing that it could effect their prospects in other state races. 

“First, it’s morally wrong and I think it’s really harmful to the party. The guy’s a complete nutcase. He’s a Nazi,” GOP state Rep. David McSweeney told Politico. “This is an absolute political disaster.”

According to The Washington Post, Jones has called the Holocaust an “international extortion racket” and a “lie.” He’s also said that survivors’ accounts of the genocide are propaganda.

The Illinois Republican Party announced in February they would not support him, saying it has “no place for Nazis like Arthur Jones.”

Illinois Republican Party spokesman Aaron DeGroot told Politico this week that the party is planning on supporting a write-in candidate for the general election.