Former Republican congressional staffer Justin Hanson is reportedly launching a write-in campaign for a House seat in a suburban Chicago district that will feature a Nazi on the ballot in November.
Arthur Jones, who has been disavowed by the GOP, is the Republican party’s nominee in Illinois’s 3rd District after he ran unopposed in the March primary.
{mosads}Hanson told Politico that he is entering the race because he doesn’t “believe men like Art Jones should be allowed to go unchallenged.”
The winner of the GOP primary in the heavily Democratic district is incumbent Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D), who is widely considered a lock to hold the seat.
Hanson acknowledged to Politico that winning the seat will be a challenge.
“But this is an extraordinary circumstance, and I think voters recognize that,” he added.
Hanson has a law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law and practices law as an attorney with Gould & Ratner, a firm based in Chicago. Before becoming a lawyer, he worked as a policy analyst in the House.
Jones, the Republican nominee in the district, has long been a stain on the Illinois Republican Party, which blocked his previous congressional bids.
Jones’s campaign website includes a section called “The Holocaust Racket,” where he argues there’s “no proof such a so-called ‘Holocaust’ ever took place anywhere in Europe against the Jews” and that Jews are “directly responsible for the murder of at least 300 million people.”
—Updated at 2:05 p.m.