Judd Blevins Ousted From Enid City Council

I see a lot of people on Twitter are drawing the wrong conclusions from this.

CNN:

When a public official in a small Oklahoma city faced a censure vote that condemned his recent ties to White nationalism, he was saved – at least temporarily – by a Black man.

Several residents in Enid blasted city council commissioner Judd Blevins at a public meeting last fall for participating in the 2017 “Unite the Right” rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia, that saw one counter protester killed and dozens injured. They also highlighted offensive comments he was accused of making online under a pseudonym.

Others defended Blevins, saying he had a right to free speech and rejected the censure effort as a political ploy fueled by Enid’s small progressive enclave. …

NPR:

ENID, Oklahoma — Voters in the northwest Oklahoma city of Enid ousted a city council member with ties to white nationalism, according to unofficial results posted Tuesday on the Oklahoma Election Board website.

With all four precincts reporting in Enid’s Ward 1, results show voters chose to recall 42-year-old Judd Blevins. They instead selected Cheryl Patterson, a grandmother and longtime youth leader at an area church, to fill the seat. …

When asked at the forum to explain his involvement in the rally and his ties to Identity Evropa, he responded: “Bringing attention to the same issues that got Donald Trump elected in 2016: securing America’s borders, reforming our legal immigration system and, quite frankly, pushing back on this anti-white hatred that is so common in media entertainment.” …

Enid News & Eagle:

ENID, Okla. — Cheryl Patterson defeated Judd Blevins in an election for the Ward 1 Enid City Commission seat on Tuesday, April 2, 2024.

Votes will be certified on Friday, April 5, 2024, and Mayor David Mason said Patterson will take over immediately and likely will be sworn in at the next city commission meeting on April 16.

The election was held after a recall petition initiated by Enid Social Justice Committee received enough signatures to set up another election for the seat. ESJC filed the petition after learning of Blevins’ alleged ties with white nationalist organizations.

Patterson defeated Blevins with 59.64% of the vote, 829-561. Blevins was elected in February 2023, defeating incumbent Jerry Allen with 52.23% of the vote, 422-386. …

How disqualifying is it in 2024 with the Republican base to have marched through Charlottesville while carrying a tiki torch at the Unite the Right rally in 2017?

In 2023, Blevins was narrowly elected to the Enid City Commission by a margin of 36 votes. In 2024, he was ousted in this recall, but he won 561 votes in a higher turnout election. Sure, he lost because a squeamish faction of conservatives voted with Democrats, but he picked up another 139 voters.

40% of voters in this higher turnout election in his ward had no problem with him. These results are consistent with polls which show our views are significantly more accepted than in the past. Obviously, we haven’t won over everyone on the Right and particularly older voters who are scandalized by what they see on television, but rightwing politics is still trending in our direction.