Florida’s new secretary of state resigned on Thursday, hours after a newspaper revealed photos of him posing in blackface at a Halloween party 14 years ago to mock Hurricane Katrina victims.

Michael Ertel, 49, resigned hours after the photos, obtained by the Tallahassee Democrat, were shown to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Ertel had been appointed secretary of state on Dec. 28.

The photos were taken in 2005, the paper reported, at a Halloween party eight months after Ertel was appointed supervisor of elections in Seminole County and two months after Hurricane Katrina.

They show Ertel portraying a Katrina victim; he is wearing blackface, red lipstick, earrings and a New Orleans Saints bandana.

He is also wearing falsies under a purple T-shirt that had “Katrina Victim” written on it.

“The governor accepted Secretary Ertel’s resignation,” the governor’s office said in a statement.

“It’s unfortunate,” the governor added while speaking to reporters at a press conference on hurricane relief. “He’s done a lot of good work.”

The governor said he accepted the resignation because “I don’t want to get mired in side controversies.”