ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The Republican Party chairman of southern New Mexico’s Dona Ana County has resigned after making incendiary comments on social media that referenced “violent, leftist protesters” following deadly protests in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Roman Jimenez wrote on the party’s Facebook page Sunday that the protesters were responsible for creating a divide between races and genders and were “getting exactly what they asked for”: a segregated society of groups.
“The white ones have been taught to hate their color, the women are taught to hate men, black and minorities want to kill whites and police,” Jimenez wrote in the post. “They then have the audacity to call conservatives racist.”
Jimenez later told an Albuquerque TV station that the post was taken out of context and he regretted it was misconstrued.
“The post was made in regards to other protests and violence that I was aware of,” he said. “I had not been aware of the Charlottesville violence until after posts started coming in in response to what I put.”
The county’s GOP Party said in a statement Tuesday that it had accepted Jimenez’s resignation. Victor Contreras will serve as interim chairman until the country central committee convenes a meeting to elect a new chairperson.
“We believe there is no room for bigotry, racism or hate in our country,” Contreras said in a statement.
The Charlottesville protests last weekend ended with one woman dead and over a dozen injured after a car plowed protesters. Two state troopers who were flying in a helicopter sent to help contain the violence also died when their aircraft crashed in a wooded area.
Republican State Party Chairman Ryan Cangiolosi said in a statement in response to Jimenez’s post that the Dona County chairman’s words do not reflect the views of the Republican Party of New Mexico and of Republican Party in Jimenez’s county.
The Democratic Party in Dona Ana County also spoke out against Jimenez’s post on social media and said the county treats everyone with dignity and respect.
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