Ted Cruz urges Illinois GOP to choose Democrat over ‘bigoted fool’ Art Jones

Sen. Ted Cruz has joined the list of Republicans upset that a Holocaust denier is the party’s nominee for an Illinois congressional seat — and he is urging a vote for Democratic incumbent Dan Lipinski over “an avowed Nazi.”

“This is horrific,” the Texas senator and former presidential candidate tweeted. “An avowed Nazi running for Congress. To the good people of Illinois, you have two reasonable choices: write in another candidate, or vote for the Democrat. This bigoted fool should receive ZERO votes.”

The Sun-Times broke the story in February that perennial candidate and white supremacist Art Jones was running unopposed for the GOP nomination for the state’s 3^rd Congressional District in the March primary.

Gov. Bruce Rauner and other Illinois Republicans have disavowed Jones, but have been unable to knock him off the ballot.

“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 in February.

Jones, 70, is a retired insurance agent who lives in suburban Lyons. He’s run failed campaigns for political offices in the Chicago area and Milwaukee since the 1970s.

The activist anti-Semite and white supremacist has told the Sun-Times that he is a former leader of the American Nazi Party and now heads a group called the America First Committee.

“Membership in this organization is open to any white American citizen of European, non-Jewish descent,” he has said.

RELATED:

• Holocaust denier poised to claim GOP nomination in Illinois race for Congress
• Illinois GOP congressional delegation condemns Holocaust denier Arthur Jones
• How Holocaust denier Jones got on ballot: Illinois GOP let guard down
• When a Holocaust denier slithered into view, the Illinois GOP failed to act

Cruz joined the chorus of denunciation after Politco ran a story on Jones this week.