Ted Cruz urges voters in Illinois to pick the Democrat over 'bigoted fool' Nazi candidate

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) would like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to keep his advice for Illinois voters to himself.

In the state's 3rd congressional district, the Republican candidate is Arthur Jones, a Holocaust denier and former leader of the American Nazi Party. He ran in the primary unopposed, and on Friday, Cruz tweeted that he found it "horrific" that Jones made the ballot. "To the good people of Illinois, you have two reasonable choices: write in another candidate, or vote for the Democrat," he said. "This bigoted fool should receive ZERO votes."

When asked about this on Tuesday, Rauner said he disagreed with telling people to vote for the Democrat over Jones, and instead called on Jones to drop out of the race. "The one thing I will say is the person, that guy, Johnson or whatever his name is, should not be on the ballot," Rauner said, adding, "there is no room in our politics for a person like that." Assuming he doesn't follow the governor's advice, Jones will face Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski in the November election.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up