By Jovonne Ledet
The executive director of the North Dakota Republican Party has resigned after a series of controversial social media posts surfaced.
“I believe the best path forward for the NDGOP is for me to take a different path,” Dave Roetman said in a statement announcing his resignation, per Raw Story. “I wish them all the best.”
The resignation came less than two weeks after Roetman was appointed to the position. According to a report by the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, Roetman previously made “dozens and dozens of ignorant social media posts” about Black people and women.
Roetman’s posts allegedly included jokes about women making sandwiches and a suggestion that Black people should leave America and move to Wakanda. When the report dropped, Roetman refused to apologize, telling the outlet “I am a man who stands by his words.”
Sandi Sanford, NDGOP chairwoman, released a statement addressing Roetman’s resignation.
“The resignation of Dave Roetman is a minor setback that won’t deter us from effectively serving the people of North Dakota. We’ll resume the search and hope to have the NDGOP executive director position secured soon,” Sanford said.
A spokesperson for the Democratic-NPL party called out the NDGOP’s failure to properly vet its staff.
“It’s good to hear that Mr. Roetman will not be at the helm of the North Dakota Republican Party. We’re still baffled that they offered him the position in the first place. Either the NDGOP doesn’t do its due diligence to vet its staff, or they knew about his hateful views of women and they didn’t care. Whichever it is, the confidence many North Dakotans once had for the Republican Party has been shaken to its core recently,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
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