Head of Virginia GOP resigns rather than run 'vicious campaign' for Trump-loving pro-Confederate US senate candidate

The head of the Virginia Republican Party resigned Saturday amidst the rise of a Trumpian candidate for U.S. Senate.

John Whitbeck had led his state's party since 2015, but quit just two weeks after the party's primary was won by Corey Stewart, a Trump-loving ultra-Conservative who has advocated protecting the state’s Confederate monuments.

Stewart has promised to run a "vicious campaign" against incumbent Tim Kaine. Stewart was the chair of President Donald Trump’s 2016 Virginia campaign but was fired for an extremist protest outside the Republican Party's headquarters in Washington. He is closely associated with white nationalist Jason Kessler, who organized the deadly Charlottesville rally.

Stewart was last elected, at the county level, in 2003.

Whitbeck apparently wanted to part of it, as he is resigning to pursue "other opportunities."

Virginia Republicans have not won a statewide election since 2009.