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Politics26 outlets ran this3 min read

Ohio Senator Jon Husted fires staffer over Nazi imagery

Political director Stephen B. Woytek dismissed after social media posts surfaced.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
U.S. Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) speaks on stage on the first day of the 2026 Republican National Convention at the American Airlines Center on September 09, 2026, in Dallas, Texas. U.S.

What this story says

  • Ohio Senator Jon Husted dismissed his political director, Stephen B. Woytek, following reports of social media activity featuring Nazi imagery.
  • Woytek's deleted Facebook profile picture showed SS soldiers, and he created a Spotify playlist titled 'Tales From Rhodesia' that celebrated the former white-minority-ruled state.
  • Woytek is a 25-year-old lieutenant in the Ohio Army National Guard and a graduate of The Citadel.
  • The dismissal occurred after The Washington Post reported on Woytek's social media content.

Who covered it

Left 44%(7)Centre 31%(6)Right 25%(3)

Percentages are shares of the 16 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 10 of the 26 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

74/100

Craft

95/100

Hype

15/100

26 sources · methodology

Missing from the right

Only 3 of the 16 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.

A reader who follows the right would not have seen this. We report the absence rather than explain it: outlets choose what to cover for many reasons, and we have no evidence about which one applies here.

Ohio Senator Jon Husted has ended his working relationship with political director Stephen B. Woytek. The decision came after reports surfaced regarding Woytek's social media activity, which included imagery associated with Nazi Germany and content that appeared to celebrate Rhodesia, a former white-minority-ruled state.

Woytek's deleted Facebook profile picture reportedly showed SS soldiers holding captured Soviet banners. He also created a Spotify playlist titled "Tales From Rhodesia," which included songs that celebrated the nation before its independence in 1980. According to The Washington Post, Rhodesian symbolism has been embraced by some white supremacist movements.

Woytek is 25 years old and serves as a lieutenant in the Ohio Army National Guard. He is also a graduate of The Citadel, a military college. A spokesperson for Senator Husted stated that while Woytek denies negative intent and participates in historical reenactments, his social media activity showed a "complete lack of judgement and disregard for its impact on others."

Disagreement on attire

The Washington Post reported that Woytek wore a Nazi uniform, while Newsweek stated that Woytek participates in historical reenactments while dressed in period uniforms and that he denies Nazi ideology.

Omissions in coverage

None of the left-rated digests mention the specific detail that Stephen B. Woytek was a political director for Jon Husted for Senate since August.

Tags:#JonHusted#StephenWoytek#NaziImagery#Rhodesia#OhioPolitics#CampaignStaff

Coverage settled. We checked this 122 times and stopped on 17 Sept 2026, 18:00. The figures above are what it finished at.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

7 rated outlets

  • Left-rated reports led on the discovery of Nazi imagery and content celebrating Rhodesia. Multiple outlets highlighted that The Washington Post uncovered the social media activity. Reports mentioned Woytek's role as a lieutenant in the Ohio Army National Guard and his graduation from The Citadel. Some reports noted that Husted's campaign chair had also resigned recently due to other issues, raising questions about the campaign's vetting process.

Centre

6 rated outlets

  • All six centre outlets reported that Ohio Senator Jon Husted terminated political director Stephen Woytek after a Washington Post investigation revealed a 2018 Facebook profile picture showing SS soldiers and a Spotify playlist titled “Tales From Rhodesia.” The outlets noted Woytek’s denial of extremist intent and his claim to reject Nazi ideology.
  • Newsweek published a spokesperson’s comment that Woytek “serves our country honorably” as an Army lieutenant and Citadel graduate, and quoted his statement rejecting the SS’s racist ideology. The Columbus Dispatch repeated the spokesperson’s judgment‑lack remark, added background that Rhodesia was a white‑minority state praised by supremacists, and linked the firing to a prior volunteer resignation controversy.
  • None of the four digest summaries mentioned the spokesperson’s praise of Woytek’s military service, the volunteer resignation detail, or the Columbus Dispatch’s explanation of Rhodesia’s historical context. Those elements appear only in the two full reports, indicating the digests omitted several background and attribution points.

Right

3 rated outlets

  • Right-rated outlets reported that Ohio Senator Jon Husted dismissed a campaign staffer, Stephen Woytek, after discovering social media posts. These posts included a Facebook profile picture featuring SS soldiers and a music playlist celebrating Rhodesia.
  • The Jerusalem Post and Newsweek reported that Woytek, 25, serves as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army and is a graduate of The Citadel. Both outlets noted Husted's spokesperson stated Woytek's activity showed a lack of judgment.
  • The Washington Examiner digest stated Woytek was linked to Nazi content and Rhodesia, a country venerated by white supremacists. The Jewish Voice and VINnews digests also reported on the Nazi imagery and the Rhodesia playlist.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Ohio Senator Jon Husted fires staffer over Nazi imagery?
Of the 16 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 44% are rated left, 31% are rated centre, 25% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 26. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Ohio Senator Jon Husted fires staffer over Nazi imagery left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 16 rated outlets on this story, 44% are rated left, 31% are rated centre, 25% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Ohio Senator Jon Husted fires staffer over Nazi imagery biased?
Ohio Senator Jon Husted fires staffer over Nazi imagery is one event reported by 26 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Ohio Senator Jon Husted fires staffer over Nazi imagery?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Ohio Senator Jon Husted fires staffer over Nazi imagery?
26 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
Why was Stephen B. Woytek fired?
Stephen B. Woytek was fired from his role as political director for Ohio Senator Jon Husted after reports surfaced of his social media activity. This activity included a deleted Facebook profile picture showing SS soldiers and a Spotify playlist celebrating Rhodesia.
What is known about Stephen B. Woytek's background?
Stephen B. Woytek is 25 years old and serves as a lieutenant in the Ohio Army National Guard. He is also a graduate of The Citadel, a military college. He had been working for Senator Husted's campaign since August.
What was the nature of Woytek's social media posts?
Woytek's deleted Facebook profile picture reportedly showed SS soldiers holding captured Soviet banners. He also created a Spotify playlist titled 'Tales From Rhodesia' that celebrated the former white-minority-ruled state, which has been associated with white supremacist movements.

Read it at the source

26 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

7

Centre

6

Right

3

Not rated

10
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How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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