Arthur Jones: Holocaust denier set to become Republican nominee for Illinois congressional seat

Seventy-year-old former leader of American Nazi Party says race is 'absolutely the best opportunity in my entire political career'

Arthur Jones, 70, is running unopposed on the Republican primary ticket for the Illinois' 3rd Congressional District seat, which includes parts of Chicago (Chicago Sun-Times)

A Holocaust denier who was formerly the leader of the American Nazi Party is set to become the Republican nominee for a congressional seat in Illinois.

Arthur Jones is running unopposed on the Republican primary ticket for the state’s 3rd Congressional District seat, which includes parts of Chicago.

On his campaign website, the 70-year-old has a section titled “Holocaust?” which includes several scanned documents, the first of which calls the genocide “the biggest, blackest, lie in history”.

On another page titled “Flags of Conflict,” the Confederate flag is listed first and described as “a symbol of White pride and White Resistance” and “the flag of a White counter revolution.”

“Well, first of all, I’m running fo Congress not the chancellor of Germany,” Mr Jones said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. “To me the Holocaust is what I said it is: It’s an international extortion racket,”

He went on to describe how he led the American Nazi Party and is currently head of the America First Committee. “Membership in this organisation is open to any white American citizen of European, non-Jewish descent,” he added.

Mr Jones had seven failed runs for the Republican 3rd Congressional District primary, but this time is running unopposed.

“The Illinois Republican Party and our country have no place for Nazis like Arthur Jones,” the Illinois Republican Party chair, Tim Schneider, said in a statement. ”We strongly oppose his racist views and his candidacy for any public office, including the 3rd Congressional District.”

Speaking to the Chicago Tribune, Mr Jones called the race “absolutely the best opportunity in my entire political career.”

He added: “Every time I’ve run it’s been against a Republican who follows this politically correct nonsense. This time they screwed up.”

He told the paper he doesn’t support interracial marriage or integration in schools and said “I don’t believe in equality, period.”

However, Mr Jones is unlikely to win the seat in November, as the district is traditionally Democratic.