ICYMI: Cleveland Jewish and Black Faith Leaders Come Together To Condemn Jon Husted For Hiring a Nazi Sympathizer

September 22, 2026

WASHINGTON POST: Ohio Senate campaign staffer used Nazi soldiers as profile photo

CLEVELAND, OHIO — In case you missed it, Jewish and Black faith leaders across Cleveland came together to condemn Jon Husted for hiring a Nazi enthusiast as a member of his senior campaign team.

The Washington Post reported that Jon Husted hired a Nazi sympathizer “wearing an SS uniform” as his political director, who used a “photo of SS soldiers as his Facebook profile photo and recently added to a public playlist of songs celebrating Rhodesia,” an apartheid colony that has become a rallying symbol for white supremacists.

See For Yourself:

Fox 8 Cleveland: Cleveland Jewish and Black Faith Leaders Condemn Jon Husted For Hiring a Nazi Sympathizer

Fox 8 Cleveland: Multiple leaders from Cleveland’s Black and Jewish communities gathered to condemn Husted’s campaign over the hiring.

Pastor Napoleon Harris: It’s a moral shame that it took external pressure from the press to make the campaign part ways with a polarizing, problematic person, and it’s an even greater moral shame that Nazi enthusiasm was not loudly condemned.

Spectrum News: Cleveland Jewish and Black Faith Leaders Condemn Jon Husted For Hiring a Nazi Sympathizer

Spectrum News: Local faith leaders on Thursday said the incident calls into question Husted’s ability to lead.

Adam Rosen, Jewish Democratic Council of America, Ohio Chapter Lead: This is simply unacceptable for an elected official asking Ohioans to trust his judgment at the highest level of government. Ohio leaders should reflect Ohioans’ values. They should never give a platform to deeply disturbing and hateful imagery that can become normalized.

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cleveland Black, Jewish leaders question Husted campaign vetting after staffer’s Nazi post

Black and Jewish community leaders on Thursday questioned how a campaign aide with a history of posting Nazi-related imagery on social media was hired as a senior staffer for U.S. Sen. Jon Husted’s campaign, arguing that it reflects a failure of judgment and vetting.

The criticism came during a news conference at the Cleveland Cultural Gardens after Husted’s campaign fired political director Stephen Woytek following a Washington Post report detailing that the staffer had used a photo of Nazi SS soldiers as his Facebook profile picture.

The community leaders Thursday repeatedly said the issue extends beyond Woytek’s conduct and instead raises concerns about how he was hired in the first place.

“See, we live in a high-stakes society where all jobs are vetted to social media, and we know political campaigns vet social media too. And we expect our political leaders to know better, and quite frankly, to just be better,” said Pastor Napoleon J. Harris of Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland.

“It’s a moral shame that it took external pressure from the press to make a campaign part ways with a polarizing, problematic person, and it’s an even greater moral shame that Nazi enthusiasm was not loudly condemned.”

Harris called Nazism, white supremacy and antisemitism “evil” and argued public officials should clearly denounce them.

“Nazism hatred, injustice, and white supremacy are not normal. They are not just errors in judgment, Harris said. ”Having an extra beer, wearing a Steelers jersey to a Browns game — those are errors in judgment. This is evil. It’s wrong.”

State Rep. Eric Synenberg, a Beachwood Democrat and one of the General Assembly’s Jewish members, said the episode raised broader concerns about Husted’s judgment and campaign vetting procedures.

“I stand here today really frustrated that in 2026 we are still having to call out a failure like this from a sitting United States senator,” Synenberg said.

Synenberg said Woytek’s social media activity was publicly available and questioned how someone with that history was selected for one of the campaign’s most senior positions.

“At the core of this issue is a basic responsibility — doing the necessary research and due diligence before hiring someone to serve as a political director, one of the most important positions on a campaign,” he said.

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