An Oklahoma city is at a crossroads after unanimously electing a white nationalist to its council. It all started when Connie Vickers and others found a photo online. In the picture, Judd Blevins was unmistakable, appearing bearded and heavyset.
The picture showed Blevins marching alongside an angry mob of men spitting and shouting, “Jews will not replace us!” Upon the discovery, Vickers enlarged the photo at a local print and copy shop. In January 2023, she and Nancy Presnall, best friends and rare Democrats, brought it to a sparsely attended forum.
At the time, Blevins was a candidate running to represent Ward 1 on Enid’s six-seat City Council. While Blevins was on stage, Vickers and Presnall hoped to ask him a question. However, the two settled for confronting him later. After the forum, the best friends nervously approached the 41-year-old former Marine.
From a kitchen trash bag, Vickers pulled out the blown-up photo of Blevins and asked about his ties to white nationalists. As his campaign manager whisked a red-faced Blevins away, Vickers and Presnall followed, yelling, “Answer the question, Judd!” “He ran away from two little old ladies,” Presnall recalled.
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Two weeks after the confrontation, on Valentine’s Day, Blevins won his race. He unseated the Republican incumbent, widely viewed as a devoted public servant, who died from cancer later that year. The county voters appreciated Blevins’ bio.
According to his bio, Blevins is a veteran who served in Iraq and worked a manual job in Tulsa. Afterward, he returned to his hometown to take over his father’s roofing business. Blevins also described himself as a man of God. He extolled the city as a place where “traditional values” remained the norm.
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The news about Blevins’ past as a white nationalist resounded in Enid, a city with just over 50,000 people. According to reports, in 1980, more than 90% of the area’s residents were white. However, now, less than 3 in 4 are. Enid is one of the country’s most quickly diversifying places and one of the most conservative.
It’s not clear how many voters knew about Blevins’ white nationalist ties. There was an article in the local paper, which Blevins labeled “a hit piece.” However, no one discussed it beyond the confrontation with Vickers and Presnall. Also, no one asked Blevins about it at campaign events or forums, and his opponent never brought it up.
Although a white nationalist campaigning for office is one thing, his election is another. Hence, Blevins’ win didn’t sit well with many in Enid. It marked the beginning of a fight to expel Blevins from the City Council. The battle for the very soul of Enid would show the power of community organizing.
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Following his ousting, Blevins declined multiple interview requests. So, we may never know when, how, and why Blevins joined a white supremacist movement. What is clear is that from 2017 to 2019, Blevins was an active leader in Identity Evropa, one of the largest among the white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups.
Three Years before Blevin ran for office, left-wing news outlets reported his active participation in Identity Evropa. However, no one paid attention. A recall election is scheduled for April 2, 2024. However, it remains unclear whether the town would successfully vote out its white nationalist leader.
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