Spence, who joined the RNC in June 2015 as a research analyst on the investigations team, left this June for a “variety of factors” but said he wasn’t “overjoyed with how the primary season went.”

“Personally I wasn’t comfortable working to elect him,” he said of Trump.

In interviews, others cited familiar reasons for their resistance to the nominee – that they couldn’t work to help elect a man they thought was not qualified to be president; that Trump’s insensitive statements turned them against him; that he wasn’t conservative enough. Some also said they worried about the stain that working to elect Trump could have on their resume.

“I didn’t want to be associated with the Trump campaign,” said one, calling the Trump nomination a “deal breaker” for him. “I don’t agree with what he has to say … He’s not a person I feel comfortable working for. It’s just that simple.”