Editorial:

#nazi #elections #maga 3leadright #sbalich #friciloneforcongress

By THE EDITORIAL BOARDCHICAGO TRIBUNE |MAR 09, 2020 | 4:06 PM

As political campaign slogans go, they don’t get much simpler or more urgent than this plea to 3rd Congressional District voters: Say ‘no’ to the Nazi.

If you live in the 3rd, which stretches from Chicago’s South Side into the west and southwest suburbs, beware of candidate Arthur Jones. He’s running as a Republican in the U.S. House primary election. He’s also a neo-Nazi sympathizer, Holocaust denier and white supremacist.

A reminder to voters as Election Day nears: The Tribune Editorial Board endorses the highly qualified Mike Fricilone of Homer Glen, a member of the Will County Board. Fricilone decided to run because someone has to beat Jones, a shameful character who’s been identified by the Anti-Defamation League as a longtime neo-Nazi. “We have a white supremacist, a racist, running on the ticket for our party,” Fricilone told us during an endorsement interview. “It doesn’t do anybody any good for any party to have somebody like that running.”

Worse, of course, would be for Jones to win the nomination. That scenario is possible because this is a Republican primary in a heavily Democratic district. It’s not an area considered competitive for the GOP. The longtime incumbent is Democratic congressman Dan Lipinski, who has engaged in a fierce rematch with progressive Marie Newman. The nominee on the Democratic side, whomever emerges, is favored to win in November. So who cares about the GOP ballot? Well, that was the Illinois Republican Party’s big mistake.