An Oklahoma official who marched alongside neo-Nazis at the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was voted out of office in a recall election late Tuesday.
Judd Blevins, who had been fighting to keep his seat on Enid’s six-member City Council, lost by 268 votes to his challenger, Cheryl Patterson, according to results from the Oklahoma State Election Board.
In comments made after the election results came in, Blevins thanked all those who “prayed for” and “supported” him during the recall election. But he went on to lash out at those he blamed for his removal.
“It took a coalition of leftists and moderates, an all out media blitz from local, state, and national outlets, and scare tactics about the future of Vance AFB, unfounded in any truth or reality, yet shamefully endorsed by the establishment, to remove a true conservative from office. So be it. This was a trial not just for me, but for many in this community. And many have shown who they really serve. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith,” he was quoted as saying by local outlet KFOR.
Blevins’ recall was initiated after local activists sounded the alarm over his participation in the 2017 rally. Asked at a candidate forum last week to explain his role in the rally and ties to the white supremacist group Identity Evropa, Blevins said he was simply “bringing attention to the same issues that got Donald Trump elected in 2016” and “pushing back on this anti-white hatred that is so common in media entertainment.”