A Republican congressional candidate and Holocaust denier confronted his write-in opponent, challenging him to a debate on the man’s front lawn in Illinois.
Arthur Jones, who was the only Republican candidate in the primary for Illinois’s 3rd Congressional District, stood outside of Justin Hanson’s home on Saturday during Hanson’s first campaign rally, the Chicago Tribune reported.
“You want to debate the Holocaust, I’ll debate the Holocaust,” Jones reportedly yelled while wearing a baseball hat with an American flag on it.
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“You don’t deserve to wear that hat,” Hanson told him before going into his backyard for his family rally, according to the newspaper.
Hanson told the Tribune that he knew Jones was planning on disrupting his event and contacted the police beforehand.
A former Republican congressional staffer, Hanson recently launched a write-in campaign as an independent candidate for the House seat in the suburban Chicago district.
Since he began his campaign, Hanson told the newspaper that he and his wife-turned-campaign manager Lindsay have been building his website and working late nights with “a lot of pizza and coffee.”
Hanson has described Jones as “an avowed Nazi who supports vile policies,” according to the Tribune.
Jones’s campaign website includes a section called “The Holocaust Racket,” where he argues there’s “no proof such a so-called ‘Holocaust’ ever took place anywhere in Europe against the Jews” and that Jews are “directly responsible for the murder of at least 300 million people.”
He’s also said that he was a former leader for the American Nazi Party.
The two candidates in the heavily Democratic district are challenging incumbent Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D), who is widely considered a lock to hold the seat.
Updated on Aug. 21 to clarify that Hanson is running as an independent candidate.