CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – A city commissioner in Enid, Oklahoma, could soon be voted out. That for attending Unite the Right, the 2017 white nationalist rally that put Charlottesville on the map, and other ties to white nationalism.

Judd Blevins was elected in February 2023, but questions had already arisen about his past. His campaign material described him as a Marine who returned home to take over the family business and touted his Republican credentials in the non-partisan race. But days after submitting his paperwork in December of 2022, the Enid News & Eagle published a story on his ties to Identity Evropa.

That shocked and angered people like Connie Vickers and Kristi Balden, who credits her friend with finding a picture of Blevins participating in the torch-lit march that ended at the base of the Thomas Jefferson Statue in front of the Rotunda.

“Then we looked into his Discord chats that had been linked by Unicorn Riot, and we got at that point the full picture of who he was and his involvement in those organizations.”

Balden and her friends didn’t demand a recall in the beginning.

“He has the right to his free speech, but we have the right to judge him by that speech,” she said. “We gave him multiple chances to do that, to apologize, to say he’s changed.”

When he didn’t, Balden helped form the Enid Social Justice Committee, a grassroots organization with one goal: to get Judd Blevins off of Enid City Council. The group immediately launched a recall petition and soon had more than the 350 signatures needed to put it on the ballot.

“It was fairly easy to get the signatures we needed, and it didn’t fall on party lines,” Balden said.

A recall election is set for April 2. If Blevins is voted out, he would be replaced by Cheryl Patterson, his sole opponent.

When asked by The Oklahoman for comment on the recall, Blevins said in a text:

“I could have chosen the easy way out. I could have caved in to the demands of insane leftists, like most other elected officials would have. But I chose to place my future in the hands of voters because I am confident they are going to re-affirm the decision they made a year ago. That I am the best to represent them.”