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

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 “she seems nice” 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 “broads” or “dames,” adding that debates about gender and language are why “men are distancing themselves from women professionally.”