At least eight people associated with white nationalist groups are running for state or federal office around the country this year, NBC News reported this week, citing data from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
The candidates, which NBC noted represent more white nationalists running than any other election in recent memory, include some who are pushing for segregating neighborhoods in their communities as part of their campaign platform.
NBC News correspondent Morgan Radford spoke with several such candidates for the report broadcast Thursday, including Arthur Jones, a former member of the American Nazi Party who is vying for a seat in Illinois’s 3rd Congressional District.
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Jones told Radford he is campaigning to make neighborhoods in Chicago 90 percent white, according to NBC, while also telling the outlet he believes “the average IQ of a black person is about 20 points lower” than a white person’s.
Jones added that he thought it was “ridiculous” that people believe 6 million Jews were slaughtered during the Holocaust in World War II by the Nazis.
The Republican candidate earned nearly 20,000 votes in the Republican primary for the 3rd District in March, in which he ran unopposed and received the nomination. The state’s Republican Party has denounced the candidate as a “disgusting” Nazi.
Radford also spoke with another candidate who held prejudiced views against the Jewish community, Patrick Little, who is currently running as a Republican for Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D) seat in California. The state Republican Party has denounced Little and condemned his anti-Semitic remarks.
During the interview aired on MSNBC, Little called the Jewish community a “monstrous” group and said President Trump relates to people who hold similar views by decrying “globalists.”
“[Trump] dog whistled about globalists,” Little said, adding that he “didn’t understand he was talking about Jews until after the election.”
Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke has also expressed a similar sentiment about Trump, once praising the president for sharing videos from a far-right British political figure purporting to show violence committed by Muslims.