U.S. Sen. Jon Husted accepted $10,000 through campaigns supporting him from a Northwest Ohio Nazi SS reenactor years before his current campaign fired its political director over Nazi imagery and other material uncovered on his social media accounts.

The money came from Richard Iott, the former Republican congressional candidate whose 2010 campaign was rocked after photographs surfaced showing him dressed in the uniform of Nazi Germany’s Waffen-SS.

Ohio campaign-finance records show Iott gave $5,000 to Jon Husted for Ohio on March 20, 2017, while Husted was running for governor.

After Husted ended that campaign and joined Mike DeWine’s ticket as his candidate for lieutenant governor, Iott gave another $5,000 to Mike DeWine for Ohio on May 30, 2018.

Both contributions came years after Iott’s Nazi SS reenactments had become national news.

The contributions take on new relevance after Husted’s current U.S. Senate campaign fired political director Stephen Woytek earlier this month when The Washington Post uncovered Nazi-related material in his publicly accessible social media history.

As TiffinOhio.net previously reported, Woytek had used a photograph of actual Nazi SS soldiers as his Facebook profile picture. The Post also found photographs appearing to show Woytek wearing an SS uniform during a 2018 reenactment.

The newspaper also found a Spotify account bearing Woytek’s name and photograph with a playlist celebrating Rhodesia, the former white-minority-ruled state that has become a symbol among white supremacists. Songs had been added to the playlist as recently as August.

Husted’s campaign fired Woytek after The Post contacted it about the material. The campaign did not answer the newspaper’s questions about whether or how Woytek’s social media history had been vetted before he was hired.

Woytek denied racist or antisemitic beliefs and said his interest in Nazi Germany was related to historical reenactment.

Days later, Husted addressed the controversy himself.

In a Sept. 16 interview, Husted said Woytek had been “highly recommended” and emphasized his military service before describing the Nazi-related images as part of Woytek’s reenactment hobby.

“He’s a lieutenant in the National Guard, and he does war reenactments,” Husted said, adding that some of the photos “gave a very bad impression of where he might have been ideologically.”

Iott’s Nazi SS reenactments were already national news

Iott offered a similar historical-reenactment explanation when his own participation in Nazi SS reenactments became public in 2010.

Iott was then the Republican nominee for Congress against U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur in Northwest Ohio’s 9th District.

CBS News reported that Iott had participated in a group called Wiking, which reenacted the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking, an actual Waffen-SS division that fought on Nazi Germany’s Eastern Front.

Iott confirmed his involvement with the group and denied believing in Nazi ideology, calling it “purely historical interest in World War II.”

But Iott also defended wearing the uniform. Asked whether it was wrong to dress as a Nazi soldier, he told the Associated Press that he saw nothing wrong with doing so in the context of historical reenactment.

The controversy became serious enough that prominent Republicans publicly distanced themselves from Iott. The Republican Jewish Coalition said he lacked the judgment expected of lawmakers, the National Republican Congressional Committee removed him from its Young Guns program and then-House Republican Whip Eric Cantor publicly repudiated his conduct, according to CBS News. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}

That was in October 2010.

Husted’s gubernatorial campaign accepted Iott’s $5,000 contribution in March 2017.

The DeWine-Husted campaign accepted another $5,000 from him the following year.

Husted now serves on Senate antisemitism task force

Husted is now a member of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism.

When he joined the task force in April, Husted said, “Antisemitism has no place in our country or anywhere in the world.” :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}

Five months later, journalists uncovered the Nazi-related material tied to his political director, and Husted fired him after The Washington Post contacted the campaign.

And years before that, campaigns supporting Husted had accepted $10,000 from Iott after his own Nazi SS reenactments were already a matter of national public record.

Iott has continued contributing to Republican candidates. In February, TiffinOhio.net reported that Vivek Ramaswamy’s gubernatorial campaign accepted a $500 contribution from Iott. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}