Holocaust-denier Arthur Jones loses in Illinois 3rd District, but still gets more than 25 percent of the vote

Chicago Tribune/November 7,2018

By Elyssa Cherney

he long-shot candidacy of a Holocaust denier’s Republican bid for Congress was defeated Tuesday, but not before the neo-Nazi received more than 56,000 votes in Illinois’ 3rd District.

As expected, incumbent U.S Rep. Dan Lipinski cruised to victory with just under 75 percent of the unofficial vote tally in the Democratic stronghold that stretches from the city’s Southwest Side to the west and south suburbs.

With a little over 99 percent of precincts reporting, Lipinski received 155,940 votes compared with Jones’ 56,350 The results may not include all early voting tallies.

Lipinski issued a statement Tuesday night but did not specifically mention his opponent. Throughout the race, Lipinski has condemned Jones as a racist, a bigot and an anti-Semite, but has also tried to limit speaking about him to avoid giving his challenger a platform to “spew his hatred.”

In a statement on Twitter, Lipinski said, “Voters want more of my commonsense leadership that produces results for the district and our country. People will always have disagreements, but I believe we all agree on making America a better place today and for future generations.”

Jones, a 70-year-old from Lyons, had run for office several times before but never advanced to the general election. He received 20,681 votes when he ran unopposed in the Republican primary in March.

Jones has previously described himself as a “white racialist,” or someone who “knows the facts of race,” in an interview with the Chicago Tribune.

A former member of the American National Socialist Workers Party, Jones said he also opposed equality, interracial marriage and school integration.

Jones landed himself in the race by collecting 832 signatures to appear on the November ballot, although he reportedly did not disclose his anti-Semitic and racist views.

After the March primary election, La Grange lawyer Justin Hanson, 35, joined the race as a write-in candidate.

Lipinski has represented the district since he first won election in 2005. Before that his father, Bill Lipinski, held the seat for more than two decades.

Jones’ candidacy has brought national embarrassment to the Illinois Republican Party, which had kept him off the ballot before but failed to do so this time. Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas weighed in on Twitter earlier this election cycle, saying Jones had to be stopped by either voting for the Democrat or submitting a write-in.

The state’s 3rd Congressional District includes the city’s Bridgeport neighborhood, areas around Midway Airport and parts of Oak Lawn, Orland Park and Bridgeview.

Jones received most of his votes in suburban Cook County, with 34,198, according to the Cook County Clerk’s Office.

In Chicago, Jones had gotten more than 10,295 votes as of 11 p.m. Tuesday; in Will County, he received 11,576 votes in the county; and in DuPage County, he got 176 votes, according to unofficial tallies. Jones won four of Will County’s 43 precincts, taking one in Lockport and three in Homer Glen by just dozens of votes, with 100 percent of precincts reporting and according to unofficial results.

Even though fewer people voted in the Illinois 3rd District congressional race in 2014, the Republican candidate then received about 11,000 more votes than Jones did on Tuesday, according to state voting data.

In 2014, 180,855 people cast ballots, 116,000 for Lipinski, records show. His 2014 challenger received about 64,000 votes.