A photo on Art Jones' campaign website shows him giving a Nazi salute in the company "of other white patriots." | Photo courtesy artjonesforcongressman.com

A photo on Art Jones' campaign website shows him wearing something resembling a military uniform while speaking at the Aryan Nations 2014 World Congress in Converse, Louisiana. | Photo courtesy artjonesforcongressman.com

By Bob Skolnik

Contributing Reporter

The only Republican to file to run for Congress in the 3rd Congressional District is perennial candidate Art Jones, a man the state Republican Party repudiates because of his views and associations with neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups.

"The Illinois Republican Party and our country have no place for Nazis like Arthur Jones," said Illinois State Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider in an emailed comment. "We strongly oppose his backward views and his candidacy for any public office, including the 3rd Congressional District."

The 69-year-old Jones first ran for office in 1976, when he ran for mayor of Milwaukee. The retired insurance salesman, who lives in Lyons, has run for Congress in the 3rd District in 2006, 2008, and 2012, losing the Republican Primary each time.

The 3rd Congressional District includes Riverside's 1st Precinct and the Lyons Township portion of Brookfield.

In 2016, he filed to run for Congress but was knocked off the ballot by a petition challenge that Jones says was financed by the state Republican Party.

This time around, however, there's no challenge and Jones will be the GOP's lone candidate in the primary and in the November general election.

In a telephone interview with the Landmark, Jones didn't shy away from his white supremacist views.

"If you want to describe my philosophy it's populist-slash-National Socialist," Jones said.

Jones said he was a registered Republican, even though he doesn't consider himself a dedicated follower of any specific political party.

According to Jones, "Donald Trump has come closest to my beliefs, except for his position on the Middle East. I think he made a tragic error in recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. It's going to cause more doggone trouble than he can possibly imagine."

Jones also criticized incumbent Congressman Danial Lipinski (D-3rd Congressional District) for being too supportive of Israel.

Jones says he is not anti-Semitic, although his campaign website might lead visitors to question that statement. Under the heading "Holocaust?" on his website, Jones has posted a piece titled "The Holocaust Racket" calling holocaust literature "propaganda" of "organized world Jewry."

The piece concludes that "the Holocaust is pure kosher bologna."

While Jones told the Landmark he didn't deny Jews were placed in and died in Nazi concentration camps, he denied the claim that six million Jews died as a result of that genocide. The Jews were placed in the camps, he said, because they were criminals and Communists.

"Jewry declared war on Germany," said Jones. "They called for an economic boycott of Hitler seven months after he was in power."

Jones has spoken at recent events put on by the white supremacist group Aryan Nations and other far right groups, though Jones said he was only invited as a guest and is not a member of Aryan Nations.

"I work with any group that is in accordance with my personal beliefs," Jones said.

Jones says that he is white racialist, not a racist.

"A white racialist is someone who believes in the greatness of his people's past and has faith in the destiny of his people's future," Jones said.

On his website, Jones details his views. He supports bringing American troops home from foreign lands immediately, opposes illegal immigration, amnesty for people who entered the country illegally, and sanctuary cities.

He supports making English the official language of the United States, and calls for the income tax to be repealed. He says that Obamacare should be repealed and replaced with a federally supported Medical Catastrophic Fund to be used when the benefits of private insurance policies are exhausted. He also calls for term limits for federal judges and opposes multilateral free trade agreements.

"I call them treasonous trade treaties," Jones said. "It's economic treason against the citizens of this country."

He also supports a "neighborhood amendment," which would allow residents of a neighborhood to vote to limit the percentage of non-white or non-Christian residents to no more than 10 percent of the neighborhood's population.

"This country was founded, and financed, and was meant to be a white Christian nation," Jones said. "And while we welcome people from all over the world to come here and be an American citizen they first have to accept the American way of life, not try to change us into some Third World copy that they've fled from."

Jones says that he is running to win, and not just to have a platform to espouse his views.

"I'd never run for anything if I thought I didn't have a chance to win," Jones said.