Illinois governor calls on Nazi candidate to drop out of race, breaking with Cruz

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) has called on a Nazi candidate to drop out of a Chicago-area congressional district race, breaking with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who has urged voters to write in a candidate or to vote Democrat. 

Rauner on Tuesday called for Holocaust denier and self-avowed Nazi Arthur Jones to drop out of the race, according to WCIA TV.

When asked if voters should instead cast a ballot for the Democratic candidate, Rauner replied, “No.”

“The one thing I will say is the person, that guy, Johnson or whatever his name is, should not be on the ballot,” he said.

Rauner added that the party tried to stop Jones, adding that “there is no room in our politics for a person like that.”

Jones — who ran unopposed in his Chicago-area congressional district primary in May — is facing Democratic Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.) in November’s midterm elections.

Cruz last week slammed Jones as a “bigoted fool” and implored voters not to vote for him.

“This is horrific,” Cruz said in reference to a report about Jones claiming he “snookered” the GOP.

“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.”

Jones has attracted scrutiny for his denial of the Holocaust. He has called the atrocity an “international extortion racket” and a “lie,” according to The Washington Post.

The Illinois Republican Party announced in February that it would not support him, saying it has “no place for Nazis like Arthur Jones.”