Trump candidacy spurs exodus of minority GOP staffers

This week, the Republican National Committee (RNC)'s head of Hispanic media relations, Ruth Guerra, resigned from her position with the organization, saying that she would feel "uncomfortable working for Mr. Trump.”

As Media Matters noted, "The announcement comes after a week in which presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump repeatedly attacked  the ethnic background of a U.S. District Court Judge, and criticized the first Latina governor in U.S. history, Susana Martinez."

The New York Timessaid Guerra's resignation "appears to be another indication of the lingering discomfort some party officials have about working to elect Donald J. Trump president."

"Ms. Guerra told colleagues this year that she was uncomfortable working for Mr. Trump, according two R.N.C. aides who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the difficulties surrounding the party’s presumptive standard-bearer," the Times continued. "It is relatively rare for party staff members to leave the national committee in the midst of a presidential campaign unless they are going to work directly for the nominee."

Trump has been voluble during the campaign regarding his disdain for Latino immigrants, calling them "rapists" and criminals and a threat to society. His remarks regarding Judge Gonzalo Curiel and Gov. Martinez caused commentator Rachel Maddow to marvel at how the GOP has gone from covert racism to making it a prominent plank in the party platform.

Earlier this year, Orlando Watson -- spokesman for the Republican National Committee and the Communications Director for Black Media -- resigned his position. He was followed in less than a month by Kristal Quarker-Hartsfield, the RNC's Director of African American outreach.

According to NBC, "That there has been a mass exodus of Black staff from the RNC is undeniable. Quarker-Hartsfield and Watson are two of four top African American staffers to leave the RNC over the past year. Raffi Williams, the former RNC Deputy Press Secretary and the son of FOX News political analyst Juan Williams left the RNC last year for a job in media. Another African American RNC staffer Tara Wall, who was a strategist for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign and worked for the RNC as a senior strategist for media and engagement, left in late 2015. The sole remaining top level African American staffer would appear to be Lucas Boyce. Boyce was hired to replace Wall and is listed as the RNC's Senior Strategist for Media and Engagement on their website."