COOK COUNTY, Ill. — An Illinois-based Holocaust denier, white supremacist, anti-Semite and former American Nazi Party leader won the Republican primary in the state's Third Congressional District on Tuesday, an uncontested race, reports The New York Times.
But this year, in a predominantly Democratic region, he was the only Republican on the ballot for the GOP Third Congressional District primary race. Now, he moves forward to the November midterm elections.
"Well first of all, I'm running for Congress not the chancellor of Germany. All right. To me the Holocaust is what I said it is: It's an international extortion racket," Jones told The Chicago Sun-Times.
Included on his campaign website is a section entitled "Holocaust?" in which he speculates on the authenticity of the genocide of over 6 million Jewish people. In it, he is quoted as saying the Holocaust is "the biggest blackest lie in history."
Several Holocaust claims are argued, including a reference to the clothing of deceased Jewish captors: "How can cloth soaked in human waste be stronger than bars of steel? How utterly absurd!"
Jones, a former leader of the American Nazi Party, is a topic which he frequently mentions on his website. Speaking to the Sun-Times, Jones said in part, "Membership in this organization is open to any white American citizen of European, non-Jewish descent."
A photo posted on his 'About Art Jones' section shows Jones alongside a large group of people in St. Louis in August of 2014. The photo caption claims he and other "white patriots" gathered for a march to demand the freedom of Gary Yarbough, an imprisoned white man. Jones alleges Yarbough was denied his freedom despite serving his entire prison sentence.
In a statement to the Sun-Times, Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider told the Sun-Times, "We strongly oppose his racist views and his candidacy for any public office, including the 3rd Congressional Distrct."
The Anti-Defamation League has had Jones on their radar for years.
"[Jones] proudly displays Holocaust denial, xenophobia and racism on his blog and website, has a long history of hateful, extremist and anti-Semitic views," said Lonnie Nasatir to the Sun-Times. Nasatir is the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Chicago-Upper Midwest Region.
Forward reports Jones gave a speech in 2016 at a National Socialist Movement gathering, described as one of the "most prominent neo-Nazi groups in the United States" by the Southern Poverty Law Center. During his speech, he expressed remorse for voting for then-candidate Pres. Trump, saying, he "surrounded himself with hoards of Jews" like his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
