Michael Krawitz withdraws from N.J. race amid social media scandal with journalist

Republican candidate Michael Krawitz retired his latest bid for local office in Gloucester County, New Jersey, on Tuesday after a female journalist accused him of saying he hopes she gets raped.

“I am officially withdrawing as a candidate for the Republican Party in the election on November 8, 2016 for West Deptford Township committee,” Mr. Krawitz wrote in handwritten note delivered to the Gloucester County Clerk late Tuesday.

Republican officials had called on the candidate to drop out of the race earlier Tuesday after a reporter for The Daily Beast shared a series of messages she said she received from Mr. Krawitz’s personal Facebook account.

“I. Hope. Somebody. Rapes. You. Today,” reads one of the messages journalist Olivia Nuzzi said she received on Monday morning from Mr. Krawitz. “Hope. You. Get. Raped. By. A. Syrian. Refugee,” reads another.

The candidate initially blamed hackers with sending the messages to Ms. Nuzzi, and the local GOP stood by his side at first and vowed to investigate the apparent breach of his social networking account. After conducting a review, however, the West Deptford Republican Party said it had uncovered further evidence unfavorable to Mr. Krawitz and demanded his resignation.

“As we began to investigate the matter we were led to believe that Mr. Krawitz’s Facebook account was hacked and that these hateful comments were not made by him. However, through the day our leadership reviewed all the facts surrounding this matter and we cannot find any reasonable reason to believe Mr. Krawitz’s account was hacked in anyway,” the West Deptford GOP said in a statement Tuesday.

“Through our investigation we have learned that this is not the first time Mr. Krawitz has had an inappropriate confrontation via Facebook with this reporter and that he has a history going back to December of 2015 of making comments to posts made by her. For a candidate to use such despicable language toward an individual, let alone a female, is completely unacceptable of anyone representing our Party,” officials said.

The former candidate’s most recent bid for office marked the fourth time he sought a seat on the council in the predominately Democratic township of West Deptford, The Inquirer reported.

He described himself as a longtime supporter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in the same interview with the newspaper on Monday where he declined knowledge of The Daily Beast or the Facebook remarks, and instead suggested the comments were the doings of hackers. 

“When you’re running for township committee in Jersey, these people do anything to try to smear you,” he said.

In an article she penned after the exchange, Ms. Nuzzi drew parallels between the presidential election and small-town ones.

“When a former reality TV star can become the Republican nominee while offending and belittling entire genders, races, and religions why wouldn’t a man seeking local office think that encouraging the rape of a woman he hates is OK?” she wrote.

“As a reporter, bullying of this kind from would-be politicians makes you fear for your First Amendment rights. As an American and a woman, it makes you fear for the state of our country and the safety of half the population that inhabits it,” she said in a statement.

Mr. Krawitz and Joann Priga had been the only Republicans running for committee seats in West Deptford, the Courier Post reported. Ms. Priga’s office declined to comment on the matter when reached Tuesday by a local ABC News affiliate.