Candidate Should Withdraw After Obscene Comments, West Deptford GOP Says [UPDATED]

West Deptford, NJ -- A couple of hours after the West Deptford Republican Club asked Mike Krawitz to withdraw from the Nov. 8 general election for Township Committee, it appears as though the candidate has decided to withdraw on his own.

"I am OFFICIALLY withdrawing as a candidate for the Republican Party in the election on November 8, 2016, for West Deptford Township Committee," Krawitz appeared to have scrawled on a blue note Tuesday afternoon.

The note was also emailed to the Courier Post, but the Gloucester County Clerk's Office had not yet received the note as of Tuesday afternoon. The office said it would compare the signature on the note to the one on Krawitz's voter registration forms.

Earlier in the day, the West Deptford Republican Club asked Krawitz to withdraw from the race due to obscene comments he apparently made on social media, directed at Daily Beast reporter Olivia Nuzzi.

In the posts, Krawitz appears to tell the female journalist, “Hope. You. Get. Raped. By. A. Syrian. Refugee. :)” and “[Expletive]. You. Olivia. I. Hope. Someone. Rapes. You. Today :)”

He also appears to write “Bill. Clinton. Cheated. On. Hillary. :) With. Multiple. Women.”

The comments are quoted exactly as they appear on social media, and appear to have come in response to a story Nuzzi shared about Republican candidate Donald Trump’s ex-wife, Maria Maples, according to the report. Nuzzi didn’t write the story. Krawitz says he has been an ardent Trump supporter since the 1980’s.

Krawtiz denies writing the messages, saying his account has been hacked, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The West Deptford GOP initially denounced the comments, and told the newspaper it asked Facebook to investigate the possibility that Krawitz’s account had been hacked. Krawitz said he has also asked Facebook to investigate, and says his friends have been receiving new friend invitations from him, which is typically a sign that someone’s account has been hacked.

However, on Tuesday afternoon, the West Deptford Republicans released a statement that was posted on Twitter, stating that an investigation shows no reason to believe Krawitz's Facebook account had been hacked.

Their investigation also confirmed Nuzzi's claims that Krawitz has been coming after her on social media for about a year, using the same kind of punctuation and the same type of vile language, the club said in the statement, adding that it can't condone the actions of someone who calls for violence against women.

"It is because of this behavior that the West Deptford Republican Party is calling on Mike Krawitz to resign as our party's candidate for Township Committee," West Deptford Republican Club Chairman Bob Waller said. "If he does not resign, we will do whatever it takes to get him removed from the ballot.

The club had also removed Krawitz and running mate Joann Priga's names as candidates from its website Tuesday afternoon. The Republican club’s Facebook page remained unavailable.

West Deptford politics are typically fraught with unusual behavior, and anger seems to run high come election time. Just last year, someone shot an arrow with a death threat attached to it at Republican candidate Ray Chintall's house.

But now West Deptford's politics are taking the national stage, in a negative light.