CHICAGO _ Incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski won re-election in Illinois' 3rd Congressional District, The Associated Press reported, taking 75 percent of the vote so far over his opponent, a Holocaust denier with ties to neo-Nazism, according to unofficial vote totals.
With about two-thirds of the precincts reporting, Republican challenger Arthur Jones, however, garnered nearly 35,000 votes at the polls in Cook, DuPage and Will counties despite a coalition of religious and political leaders that urged voters not to support him.
The results may not include all early voting tallies.
Jones, a 70-year-old from Lyons, had run for office several times before but never advanced to the general election. Jones earned 20,681 votes when he ran unopposed in the Republican primary in March.
Throughout the race, Lipinski has condemned Jones as a racist, a bigot and an anti-Semite. The incumbent said he has tried to limit speaking about Jones because he didn't want to give his challenger a platform to "spew his hatred."
Lipinski has represented the district _ a Democratic stronghold that stretches from the city's Southwest Side to the west and south suburbs _ since he first won election in 2005. Before that his father, Bill Lipinski, held the seat for more than two decades.
Jones' candidacy has brought national embarrassment to the Illinois Republican Party, which had kept him off the ballot before but failed to do so this time. Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas weighed in on Twitter earlier this election cycle, saying Jones had to be stopped by either voting for the Democrat or submitting a write-in.
Jones has previously described himself as a "white racialist," or someone who "knows the facts of race," in an interview with The Chicago Tribune. A former member of the American National Socialist Workers Party, Jones said he also opposed equality, interracial marriage and school integration.
Jones landed himself in the race by collecting 832 signatures to appear on the November ballot, although he reportedly did not disclose his anti-Semitic and racist views.
After the March primary election, La Grange lawyer Justin Hanson, 35, joined the race as a write-in candidate.
The state's 3rd Congressional District includes the city's Bridgeport neighborhood, areas around Midway Airport and parts of Oak Lawn, Orland Park and Bridgeview.
