WASHINGTON -- The national committee to elect House Republicans on Monday withdrew its endorsement of south Jersey congressional candidate Seth Grossman following a report that he shared a post from a white supremacist website calling blacks a "threat to all who cross their paths."

"Bigotry has no place in society -- let alone the U.S. House of Representatives," said Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee.

"The NRCC withdraws our support of Seth Grossman and calls on him to reconsider his candidacy. The people of New Jersey's 2nd District deserve an inclusive Republican candidate who will be a trusted conservative voice in Congress."

Grossman's campaign said the candidate does not intend withdraw from the race and did not endorse what was said in the post.

Grossman, who won the June 5 Republican primary to succeed the retiring Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd-Dist, while promising to support President Donald Trump, earlier described diversity as "a bunch of crap and un-American."

The NRCC was silent on Grossman's earlier comments about diversity, which he made during a Republican debate. But Stivers reacted to a report by the liberal watchdog group Media Matters about Grossman linking to the article that ran on a white supremacist website.

Written by someone claiming to be "public defender in a large southern metropolitan area," the post concluded: "Blacks are different by almost any measure to all other people. They cannot reason as well. They cannot communicate as well. They cannot control their impulses as well. They are a threat to all who cross their paths, black and non-black alike."

Media Matters said Grossman called attention to the article in a Dec. 29, 2014 Facebook post, commenting: "Oy vay! What so many people, black, white and Hispanic, whisper to me privately but never dare say out loud publicly. Back in the Old Country, people were very careful about what they said for fear of retaliation. At one time, America was a free country and people were not afraid to express their true thoughts. Am just posting this as an individual and not on behalf of any organization."

Bubba (Grandma) would say "Only in America!" Where else can the grandson of Jewish immigrants from Russia be a "Nazi"? Or "White supremacist" for sharing a post from a black guy (Allen West). "Anti-gay" while... https://t.co/Ombss3KI1n — Seth Grossman (@Grossman4NJ) July 9, 2018

Grossman told Media Matters that "I did not and do not agree with any of (the post's) claims, and never visited the website."

He added that he believed he got the post from former Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West of Florida, an African-American, "who I thought was pointing out ignorance, hatred, and bigotry in both races, and the need to address them through open discussion."

Grossman campaign spokesman Thomas Dees on Monday said the candidate simply shared something went to him from West "that was attempting to shine some light on how tough things were getting for our friends in the African American community."

"I don't know about you, but Team Grossman is not convinced that people are gonna buy the story that Seth Grossman and Allen West are now white supremacists," Dees said.

The Democratic nominee, state Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, is favored to win the seat by the two Washington-based publications that track congressional races, the Cook Political Report and Inside Elections. Stivers in April had called the district "a recruiting hole" for the Republicans.

Van Drew's chief strategist, Michael Muller, wondered what took the NRCC so long.

"It's been 29 days since the media first broke the story of Seth Grossman's hateful rhetoric," Muller said. "If the NRCC had done a cursory Google search, or even visited their chosen candidate's website or Facebook page, they'd know what most voters in South Jersey already know. Seth Grossman is unhinged and unfit for office."

Muller suggested the NRCC pulled the plug due to Grossman's fundraising. Van Drew had $412,155 in the bank through May 16 to Grossman's$10,809.

"Chairman Stivers and the NRCC clearly didn't have a moral compass 29 days ago," Muller said. "It's hard to believe they just found religion."

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.