Judd Blevins was voted out of Enid. We never should’ve elected him to begin with.

The toxic antics of a group of far-right conservative residents in Enid have again been laid bare for the whole nation to see with recent coverage by national media regarding the successful recall election of a city commissioner who was elected a year ago to the Enid City Commission. An NBC national story and broadcast and Huffington Post exposé detailed the election and aftermath of Judd Blevins, who has documented ties to white nationalist organizations. On Tuesday, Blevins was recalled, and Cheryl Patterson will take his place on the commission immediately.

It’s the third time in eight years that an unwanted spotlight has been shone on the Enid community, which by all other means is a great town that boasts historical Oklahoma figures like astronaut Owen K. Garriott, famed artist Harold T. Holden, oil entrepreneur Harold Hamm and opera star Leona Mitchell.

Enid is a conservative town, certainly. But it’s also a town that has seen congenial political and personal relationships prosper among its residents, despite political party differences. City commission races have been nonpartisan, meaning no political parties got involved. That is, until 2023 when three city commission candidates ran identical Republican-based campaigns backed by a group of residents formerly known on Facebook as the Freedom Fighters.

We reported who Judd Blevins was. Enid didn't take us seriously.

The Blevins situation likely could have been avoided if the community ― and some of its influential leaders ― had taken seriously the reporting of the local newspaper regarding Blevins' ties to these groups a month before his election. The Enid News & Eagle, of which I was editor and publisher at the time, spent weeks confirming information we had received regarding articles previously published by progressive watchdog organizations regarding right-wing activities.

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The newspaper did its due diligence in tracking down the organizers, writers and editors of those organizations and documenting their tactics and confirming their sources in their original reports. Once we were satisfied their work was solid, we published a story about Blevins’ alleged ties to the white nationalist organization Identity Evropa and his attendance at the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally in 2017, which resulted in the death of an individual.

Our original article was met with vitriol on social media by some of the community’s supposed upstanding citizens, including a well-respected religious leader and others who associated themselves with a grassroots conservative group called the Freedom Fighters.

White nationalism is no longer in the shadows. It's becoming mainstream.

The Freedom Fighters started innocuously enough as a group of residents exercising their free speech against mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic. The group wore red shirts and voiced their opinions on mask mandates during several city commission meetings on the topic.

After the COVID controversy slowed down, the group picked up the mantle of censoring books in school and public libraries and promoting divisive rhetoric regarding the LGBTQ+ community. They also targeted city commission races and were successful in electing candidates sympathetic to their views. Due to their activities, hours and hours of public debate have taken up time during library board and city commission meetings, and The New York Times documented their behavior with a 2021 article.

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Immediately after Blevins' election, a local group called Enid Social Justice Committee began the task of planning for and successfully getting a recall vote of Blevins six months after he took office. They are to be congratulated on getting the recall accomplished.

But, even after this recall election unseated Blevins, it’s notable that he still received about 40 percent of the vote in his ward, around 500 votes. Even after he tepidly admitted and confirmed his activities and motivation of fighting so-called “anti-white hatred,” some folks in town continue to support him and also the activities he was “fighting for,” including calling the effort to unseat Blevins an attempt by “communists” and the “mainstream media” to “divide the world over race.”

We can hope that Patterson’s election will indeed return Enid City Commission meetings to some normalcy, but the number of voters who continued to support Blevins should stand as a warning that sentiments of white nationalism are no longer in the shadows. They are becoming more mainstream.

When people tell you who they are by their words and their actions, believe them. Blevins has told the community who he is ― as many of his supporters nationally and in the community have told us who they are as well.

Cindy Allen is a retired publisher of the Enid News & Eagle.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Enid recalled white nationalist Blevins. We can't elect another