I am reposting this column I wrote in the Enid News & Eagle as background information on the continued lack of clarity and accountability of Ward 1 Commissioner Judd Blevins as Enid continues to struggle with handling the state and national media attention due to this matter:
In a matter of weeks, Enid Ward 1 Commissioner-Elect Judd Blevins will be sworn into office.
Blevins, a Marine who served in Iraq, defeated incumbent Jerry Allen in the Feb. 14 election with 422 votes over Allen’s 386 votes.
A month prior to the election, the Enid News & Eagle published a news story documenting Blevins’ ties to a white nationalist organization known as Identity Evropa/American IdentityMovement. The newspaper chronicled the research on Blevins done in 2019 by a left-leaning advocacy outlet known as Right Wing Watch, which operates under the umbrella of People for the American Way.
The Right Wing Watch article documented photos of Blevins and social media posts he made under a pseudonym about his participation in the Aug. 12, 2017, Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., which turned violent and deadly. If you want to see how dangerous the rally was, click on the Frontline documentary at https://www.pbs.org/video/doc umenting-hate-charlottes ville-1120-ie0mod/.
The News & Eagle interviewed all the organizations involved in the original Right Wing Watch story about Blevins and his role as an Oklahoma recruiter for the organization. Their research included several photos of Blevins at Charlottesville.
We confirmed their tactics and research in uncovering the information, and we reached out to request an interview with Blevins. He declined an interview, but sent a statement, which you can read in the original article at enidnews.com.
Blevins has never denied the allegations, only criticized Right Wing Watch for the story as a George-Soros-funded hit piece.
The News & Eagle has reached out to Blevins again and again, including as recently as last week, asking him to go on the record about his activities with the organization and at Charlottesville, and repeatedly he has ignored or declined to interview further. He did, however, give an interview last week to a conservative radio talk show in which he was never asked by the interviewer about his activities, only asked about the “attacks” against him by the “local press,” saying the newspaper called him a “white supremist (sic).”
“I am a Christian, I believe the Bible is the only perfect thing we have in this world. The Bible tells us all men are created in the image of God and commands us to love thy neighbor as thy self,” Blevins told the interviewer.
He told the interviewer the Right Wing Watch story was a “hit piece.” He said “these media outlets attack” conservatives and Christians. “It’s these kinds of outlets funded by these 501 c 3s, that essentially is the deep state that’s trying to cancel America, trying to tear down institutions they don’t already control and they’re trying to completely rewrite history. I completely reject their narrative …”
There appears to be no evidence Blevins participated in the more violent parts of the Charlottesville rally. However, legitimate questions remain unanswered. Blevins has never explained why he was photographed at the Unite the Right torch rally and the Unite the Right event wearing a helmet and carrying the original Oklahoma flag. He has never explained his interests in participating in an organization that focused on promoting white European identity and chanted at their rallies “You will not replace us.” He never explained social media posts attributed to his pseudonym.
He said his opponents would like him to apologize and denounce “everything I’m accused of, but I don’t have anything to apologize for.”
His radio interviewer encouraged him to never apologize.
That appears to be the advice Blevins is taking when it comes to clearing the air or clarifying the actions and activities he participated in as a member of Identify Evropa/American Identity Movement and his participation in Charlottesville.
Blevins apparently doesn’t think he owes anyone in Enid any more clarification, and he doesn’t intend to apologize. However, he did give a glimpse into his political views with the interview on the radio show.
Blevins is the legitimately elected city commissioner for Ward 1. As such, he will have a voice in setting local policies that affect not only his ward — which is in a growing area of town — but all of Enid as well.
And, while he hasn’t shown up in person to a city commission meeting yet since announcing his campaign or even winning the seat, come May he will have to face folks who still want more explanation for his previous activities.
As it stands now, his former connection to the now-disbanded white nationalist group and his lack of clarity on his intentions with that group will cast a shadow over his term as commissioner, and it will cast a shadow over Enid in general.
Cindy Allen 
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