A top Iowa aide to Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer has resigned after The Associated Press revealed he had privately offered campaign contributions to local politicians in exchange for endorsing Steyer’s White House bid.
Steyer’s campaign announced Patrick Murphy’s resignation in a statement late Friday.
Murphy is a former Iowa House speaker and he released a statement that apologized for but did not deny the interactions.
He also said concerns expressed by his former colleagues about his overtures were the result of a “miscommunication.”
Murphy’s departure leaves Steyer without an Iowa political director with less than three months until the state’s lead-off caucuses.
Steyer remains at the bottom of the polls.