Judd Blevins, who is fighting to keep his seat on the Enid, Oklahoma, City Council,  said he was motivated by “the same issues that got Donald Trump elected."

A City Council member in Enid, Oklahoma, defended marching alongside white nationalists in Virginia in 2017 at a public forum Tuesday night where he was questioned about his connections to racist groups.

Judd Blevins, who faces a recall election next week, declined to provide details of his prior white nationalist activism. Asked about the groups he was affiliated with, including Identity Evropa, once one of the largest U.S. white nationalist organizations, Blevins said those groups no longer exist. He also defended his actions.

“If speaking out against what was being done to this country, what is continuing to be done to this country, is a crime, then I would gladly plead guilty to that,” he said.