Holocaust denier set to become Republican candidate

CHICAGO: A Holocaust-denying white supremacist is set to become the Republican nominee for a congressional seat in the US state of Illinois, according to local media.

Art Jones, whose website for his election campaign includes a section called “The Holocaust Racket” and proposals to bring back racially segregated neighborhoods, is poised to run unopposed for the March 20 Republican primary in the heavily Democratic district that encompasses parts of Chicago and its suburbs.

He would then face a Democrat in the congressional election in November.

The 70-year-old retired insurance agent expressed support for Donald Trump ahead of the 2016 presidential election, according to local news site patch.com, but admitted he had reservations over the billionaire’s Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as his daughter Ivanka’s conversion to the faith.

Jones has unsuccessfully run for elected office in the Chicago area and Milwaukee since the 1970s, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

His most recent attempt was in 2016 when he was removed from the ballot after the voter signatures on his nomination papers were found to be invalid.

But this time, Jones “took his petitions door to door himself and took greater care to have valid signatures,” the paper said.

“Given the fact that I’ve got no opposition in the primary, OK, I win that one (the primary) by default all right,” he told the SunTimes. — AFP