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North Dakota GOP party leader resigns 1 week into job after posts about women, Black people

The executive director of the North Dakota Republican Party has resigned a week into the job after a media outlet publicized some of his online comments

Jack Dura
Tuesday 31 October 2023 17:51 EDT
Republican Leader North Dakota
Republican Leader North Dakota

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Only a week into the job, the North Dakota Republican Party's executive director has resigned after a media outlet publicized some of his social media posts that were demeaning toward women and dismissed concerns raised by Black people about racism.

The party announced the resignation Monday of Dave Roetman, who previously worked for the South Dakota GOP. He quit seven days after being hired and a few days after Forum News Service reported about his posts and replies on X, formerly known as Twitter. The posts dated from just over a year ago to as recently as this month.

Many of the posts and replies were about political issues. But they also included crass comments, such as replying ā€œshe seems niceā€ to several posts of women in revealing clothing, and responding unfavorably to a woman in a plus-sized swimsuit. In another reply, he speculated about whether women should be addressed as ā€œbroadsā€ or ā€œdames,ā€ adding that debates about gender and language are why ā€œmen are distancing themselves from women professionally.ā€

In a post about a Black reporter who left a music festival after a man called her a racist word, Roetman replied, ā€œNarcissist?ā€ On a post of a news story about Black Americans moving out of the U.S., he replied with a meme that read, ā€œWell... ... bye.ā€

Roetman told The Associated Press on Monday that ā€œI think that recent events have been a distraction for the party, and I just donā€™t want it to be a distraction. We need to have a strong party, and Iā€™m just going to take a different path here.ā€

North Dakota Republican Party Chair Sandi Sanford said she was ā€œvery disappointedā€ by Roetman's posts. She said the search committee ā€œlooked at everything,ā€ and that the disparaging posts were "kind of buried.ā€

Sanford said Roetman resigned after they talked about his posts following the Forum article.

ā€œThis is your content,ā€ Sanford said she advised Roetman. ā€œYouā€™re an adult, youā€™re going to have to deal with responding to it.ā€

The executive director manages the party office and staff, assists with overall financials and fundraising, is the primary contact between the party and district officials, and communicates with elected officials, Sanford said.

Roetman had succeeded Samantha Holly, who resigned in September as executive director, citing ā€œseveral obstacles that have made it difficult for me to continue working hereā€ in her resignation letter.

___

AP writer Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed to this story.

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