North Dakota GOP executive director resigns after extensive record of offensive social media posts surfaces

After just 10 days in his role as executive director of North Dakota’s Republican Party (NDGOP), David Roetman has resigned following a report that uncovered a social media history riddled with inappropriate comments and offensive posts.

NDGOP didn’t give an official reason Roetman’s resignation, but the decision came just days after Inforum columnist Rob Port’s revealing piece highlighting dozens of bigoted and misogynistic posts by Roetman on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter). In a news release from the NDGOP, Roetman said, “I believe the best path forward for the NDGOP is for me to take a different path. I wish them all the best.”

One racially insensitive post saw Roetman comment on a news article about Black Americans leaving the United States. Underneath the article, Roetman attached a meme that said, “Well… bye.” In a separate post, Roetman suggested Black people should move to “Wakanda,” a fictional West African kingdom from Marvel comic books and the setting of the “Black Panther” movies.

Roetman also routinely made misogynistic posts like commenting that women “shouldn’t vote.” Under a picture of a woman eating chips, Roetman responded, “That’s too bad. She could be attractive.” He also frequently posted sexual comments in response to pictures of women, often commenting “she seems nice” under posts of women in various revealing outfits.

NDGOP Chairwoman Sandi Sanford also released a saying, “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.”