# Ill. Holocaust Denier Arthur Jones Running for Congress has no Opponents in Republican Primary **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 5, 2018, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194 "2018-02-05T01:24:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/21 "2018-02-05T22:36:35Z")
In a lot of states you can do straight ticket voting (select Republican or Democrat, punch that button and all of offices will be selected Republican or Democrat). If you have a crazy like this guy then some Republicans won’t do the straight ticket option–and there is a greater risk they will be choosing Democrats for some of the other offices when they have to make individual decisions–or more likely not voting at all on a choice they are ignorant about. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/22 "2018-02-06T01:51:13Z")
A few years back, there was a race for a Montana state legislature seat where a young veteran decided to run as a Republican in a safe-D district that would otherwise have been unopposed, and the state Republican party basically said “Sure, go for it”, without vetting him properly. And it turned out that he was a Nazi, which was a big embarrassment to the Republicans. But to their credit, once that came out, they responded correctly: They immediately issued a statement denouncing the guy, apologizing for their mistake, and endorsing the Democrat in that race. It’ll be interesting to see if the Republicans do something similar now, or ignore him, or embrace the crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/23 "2018-02-06T17:05:00Z")
David Duke a grand wizard of the KKK ran for US Senate in Louisiana in 1991 on the GOP ticket and got 43% of the vote. Hard to top that for nutty since that was a statewide race not some small district. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/24 "2018-02-06T17:12:42Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > David Duke a grand wizard of the KKK ran for US Senate in Louisiana in 1991 on the GOP ticket and got 43% of the vote. Hard to top that for nutty since that was a statewide race not some small district. Have we forgotten Roy Moore so quickly? ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/25 "2018-02-06T17:39:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > A few years back, there was a race for a Montana state legislature seat where a young veteran decided to run as a Republican in a safe-D district that would otherwise have been unopposed, and the state Republican party basically said “Sure, go for it”, without vetting him properly. And it turned out that he was a Nazi, which was a big embarrassment to the Republicans. But to their credit, once that came out, they responded correctly: They immediately issued a statement denouncing the guy, apologizing for their mistake, and endorsing the Democrat in that race. > > It’ll be interesting to see if the Republicans do something similar now, or ignore him, or embrace the crazy. I’m sure the party establishment will voice their concern and state unequivocally that Jones’ words and actions are “unhelpful”. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/26 "2018-02-06T17:39:51Z")
Duke was running for governor of Louisiana, not Senate. I distinctly remember the campaign; my mother volunteered for Edwards as soon as the jungle primaries were done. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/27 "2018-02-06T22:39:08Z")
Duke ran for both US Senate and governor . For governor he got 38% of the vote . He did get elected to the Louisiana state house for 1 term. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/28 "2018-02-07T00:13:25Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > David Duke a grand wizard of the KKK ran for US Senate in Louisiana in 1991 on the GOP ticket and got 43% of the vote. Hard to top that for nutty since that was a statewide race not some small district. “Vote for the crook! It’s important!” ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/29 "2018-02-07T00:41:23Z")
You know who else was a Nazi? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/30 "2018-02-07T01:11:44Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Woah. Lipinsky was one of the Dems who voted against the ACA. He is facing a strong primary challenge this spring. Lipinsky is probably out of step with his district … . This fact has made me think of a worst case scenario where: (1) the primary battle between Lipinsky and Newman turns out to be so long, protracted, and bitter that the loser runs as an independent in the general election thereby dividing the Democratic vote; (2) a significant block of voters are so turned off and disillusioned by the choice of candidates that they stay home in November; (3) overconfidently believing he can’t win, another significant block of voters cast protest votes for Jones as a way of “sending a message”; (4) all the hardcore racists and neo-Nazis crawl out from under their rocks to enthusiastically cast their votes for Jones; and (5) the “safely Democratic” Third Congressional District of Illinois ends up with a neo-Nazi crackpot as their representative. I’m sure this is just a nightmare my diseased mind’s thought up. There’s no way this can happen, right? ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/31 "2018-02-07T02:28:17Z")
A couple of LaRouchies got nominated for State legislative seats here in Michigan a while back. The Democratic governor immediately endorsed their Republican opponents. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/32 "2018-02-07T02:37:14Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > This fact has made me think of a worst case scenario where: (1) the primary battle between Lipinsky and Newman turns out to be so long, protracted, and bitter that the loser runs as an independent in the general election thereby dividing the Democratic vote; (2) a significant block of voters are so turned off and disillusioned by the choice of candidates that they stay home in November; (3) overconfidently believing he can’t win, another significant block of voters cast protest votes for Jones as a way of “sending a message”; (4) all the hardcore racists and neo-Nazis crawl out from under their rocks to enthusiastically cast their votes for Jones; and (5) the “safely Democratic” Third Congressional District of Illinois ends up with a neo-Nazi crackpot as their representative. > > I’m sure this is just a nightmare my diseased mind’s thought up. There’s no way this can happen, right? Walk back from the ledge. Illinois has a sore loser law and I’ve never seen a house primary get that bitter. The governor race is sucking up all the oxygen in the room. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/33 "2018-02-07T02:41:21Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Yeah, Lipinski’s a corrupt legacy seatholder (his dad held the district about 10 years prior to his election) who’s been criticized from the left for his right-side-of-moderate views, but at least he’s not a Nazi. Yeah, Lipinsk’s (-SKI not -SKY folks. Sorry, as somebody with a -ski name, it irks me) district is just barely southwest of me (like, literally, two blocks from my house his district starts), and he represents a lot of the more right-leaning areas of Chicago. He’s as close to a Republican as you can get in Chicago politics and win office. I am actually shocked that it did go +15 Clinton in the election, but the district does snake around a bit. His district encompasses some of the few areas in Chicago that voted majority for Trump. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/34 "2018-02-07T20:24:41Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Walk back from the ledge. Illinois has a sore loser law and I’ve never seen a house primary get that bitter. The governor race is sucking up all the oxygen in the room. Tnank you. I’m not from Illinois so I didn’t know about the “sore loser law”. I just read about the situation and it reminded me of situations where a right-wing crackpot unexpectedly won an election due to the more moderate opposition being divided (e.g., [the Evan Mecham disaster in Arizona](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Mecham)). ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/35 "2018-02-07T21:51:33Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Tnank you. I’m not from Illinois so I didn’t know about the “sore loser law”. I just read about the situation and it reminded me of situations where a right-wing crackpot unexpectedly won an election due to the more moderate opposition being divided (e.g., [the Evan Mecham disaster in Arizona](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Mecham)). It’s a shame that the US hasn’t widely adopted a ranked choice or approval voting system\* that prevents spoiler candidates. In this case though we’re not exactly alone: electoral reform is a heavy lift. - Technically these are called [majoritarian voting systems](http://faculty.georgetown.edu/kingch/Electoral_Systems.htm). Plurality voting -what we have- is incredibly buggy. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/36 "2018-02-09T20:22:33Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > This is a Chicago district, and there is no Republican Party in Chicago. The two Daleys, and the Democrat machine, crushed all opposition decades ago. It’s a one-political-party town. And it’s broke. Cook county, which encompasses most of Chicago, is also broke. As is the state of Chicago (aka State of Illinois). > > The GOP isn’t going to spend any time, or money, for district seats Chicago. There isn’t much of a reason to even hold a Republican primary for the Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District. Or the Illinois 4th Congressional District. etc… Democrats own the city. > > Loopy brothel inmate/political candidate Arthur Jones has run before, and he’ll run again. Pay the fees, gather the signatures, run for office, and maybe someone will pay attention to him? Jones could have skipped the primary, but there’s a better chance of being noticed if you run in both the primary and the general. This time around, it appears that he’s hit the media jackpot. Except are the Republicans a national party or a regional party? Take the recent election on Alabama. The Democrats could have sat it out, since the Republicans have a lock in Alabama. But they ran a decent candidate and supported them. And then when the Republican candidate imploded, the Democrat won. It happens all the time. If you’re a national party you run candidates in each national election, you don’t just give up. Because if you just give up, then your party candidate is guaranteed to be a crank at best. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/37 "2018-02-11T17:28:15Z")
This looks like a district in which the Democrat would generally run unopposed. No mainstream Republican saw a chance of winning, so no mainstream Republican bothered to run. This happens often. MANY Congressmen run for re-election unopposed, or against a fringe party (Libertarian, Green, Socialist Workers, whatever). When I was living in New York, the Republicans rarely bothered to nominate A candidate to run against Representatives Jim Delaney, Geraldine Ferraro or Tom Manton. A nut decided to run, so now he’s the only candidate in Illinois. Means nothing, but I can’t blame the Dems for making hay of it. When a Lyndon LaRouche follower is the only candidate for the Democrats, Republicans do the same. ---
**Author:** ![FreedomRider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/85f322/32.png) [@FreedomRider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FreedomRider)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/38 "2018-02-20T16:16:58Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Yes, but why is he allowed to run as a Republican at all? You could certainly have asked the same question about Trump. After all, he hijacked the Republican party and substituted his New American Fascist Party; it worked out really well for him. Republican Party is in shambles at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/39 "2018-02-20T16:25:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **pulykamell** : > > Yeah, Lipinsk’s (-SKI not -SKY folks. Sorry, as somebody with a -ski name, it irks me) Gaudere strikes again! And it seems to me that a party should always run a candidate for every seat, because there’s always a chance that some sort of scandal will befall the opponent, like Moore. And this is especially true if there race would otherwise go to a Nazi or other whack-job. You don’t want any Nazis anywhere on your ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194/40 "2018-02-20T16:53:21Z")
While your last sentence is certainly true it’s not like a party can make a candidate out of nothing. And an open primary process does leave things open to abuse like this. Running for office is a hell of a lot of work, even a local one. No one will do that without at least trying to win. And if those interested know they can’t win why bother? Best for the party to denounce the whack job and move on. Even if they have to do it a number of times that’s just a press release or two. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-running-for-congress-has-no-opponents-in-republican-primary/808194.md?page=3)