RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is facing pressure from within the Republican Party to suspend his campaign for governor. The pressure began in anticipation of a story that would expose a series of controversial comments made by Robinson on a pornographic website.
The comments, which were reported first by CNN, were posted prior to Robinson’s time in politics to a website called “Nude Africa”. As the report shows, the comments were lewd and sexual in nature and included a reference to himself as a “black NAZI!”
Comments from the account that’s been linked to Robinson in several ways also said “slavery is not bad” and “I would certainly buy a few.” Further comments such as “I like watching tranny on girl porn!” and “I’m a ‘perv’ too!” were also found in the CNN investigation linking the comments to the gubernatorial candidate.
Adding to the reports of lewd content connect to Robinson, Politico is reporting that his personal email address is registered on Ashley Madison—an online platform for married people seeking affairs. Politico said a personal advisor to Robinson confirmed the email address belongs to him.
Robinson had campaign events scheduled on Thursday but they were cancelled. He also did not attend Wednesday’s rally with Ohio senator JD Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president, in Raleigh.
Ballots are scheduled to begin being mailed out to military and overseas voters on Friday.
In response to questions from CBS 17 about the status of Robinson’s campaign—and before the CNN report—spokesman Mike Lonergan wrote in an email, “Where on earth did you hear this absurd nonsense? Is the press just making stuff up out of whole cloth now?”
Lonergan later issued a statement calling the CNN report “the latest outrageous lies being peddled by far-left career politician Josh Stein’s campaign”. He accused Robinson’s Democratic opponent, state attorney general Josh Stein, of making false statements throughout the election.
“Everything Josh Stein the Democrats say about Mark Robinson is either an outright lie or twisted so far out of context it might as well be,” Lonergan said in his statement. “The people of North Carolina have had enough lies from career politicians like Josh Stein and that’s why they’ll elect Mark Robinson governor on Nov. 5.”
Sources who’ve spoken to CBS 17 say it’s unclear what Robinson will do, but Republicans are discussing what will happen in the event he does indeed exit the race.
In response to mounting pressure, the following video was put out by Mark Robinson on X. In it, he vows to stay in the race. He also calls the news media his “opponent” and refers to the expected story coming out about him as “salacious tabloid trash.”
“The things that you will see in that story—those are not the words of Mark Robinson. You know my words, you know my character, and you know that I have been completely transparent in this race and before,” Robinson added.
Under state law, if Robinson were to drop out and his name remained on the ballot, any votes cast for him would go to the person chosen by the state Republican Party’s executive committee.
CBS 17 also learned Thursday that the lieutenant governor’s office at the state legislative building had been cleared out.
A spokesperson for Republican Senate leader Phil Berger’s office said the lieutenant governor’s staff had been notified of that “weeks ago”.
“As part of the preparations for the next biennium, Senate leadership is evaluating the space allocations in both the Legislative Building and the Legislative Office Building. Since the Lt. Governor has a formal office within walking distance of the legislature, it was determined that his designated space in the Legislative Building could be converted to a meeting space for legislators. The Lt. Governor’s staff was notified weeks ago and did not raise any concerns about the space being repurposed,” wrote Lauren Horsch in an email.
FOX8, a CBS 17 affiliate station in Greensboro took to Robinson’s neighborhood to knock on the door of his home Thursday afternoon. No one came to the door.
In a short statement following the release of the CNN report, the campaign of his Democratic opponent, state attorney general Josh Stein said, “North Carolinians already know Mark Robinson is completely unfit to be Governor. Josh remains focused on winning this campaign so that together we can build a safer, stronger North Carolina for everyone.”
Stein’s campaign said earlier this week that a debate between the two will not happen.
“A debate would only serve to legitimize him and provide a platform for his vile and dangerous rhetoric, and we won’t be part of that,” a spokesperson told CBS 17.
Democratic governor Roy Cooper, who is term-limited, wrote on X, “Donald Trump and NC GOP leaders embraced Mark Robinson for years knowing who he was and what he stood for including disrespect for women and inciting violence. They reap what they sow.”
NC Republican reaction
In an interview with NewsNation, Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) was asked if he was concerned about Robinson.
“The allegations are concerning but we don’t have any facts,” Budd said. “We’re going to wait through the weekend and get everything together.”
CBS 17 reached out to Senator Ted Budd’s office Thursday after the CNN article. His press office sent the following statement:
“The comments reported in the article are disgusting. Mark Robinson says they are not from him. He needs to prove that to the voters.”
A statement has also been released by NC Senate nominee Scott Lassiter, formally calling for Robinson to suspend his campaign.
“As a proud Republican, I stand for hard work, fiscal responsibility, and liberty. But no one should feel obligated to support a candidate solely due to party affiliation,” Lassiter stated. “Wrong is still wrong, and if the recent allegations against Robinson are true, combined with his previous public rhetoric, I believe it’s time for him to step aside. North Carolinians deserve a viable choice in this election.”
On X, the North Carolina Republican Party issued a statement standing by Robinson. The NCGOP accused Democrats of attempting to turn the election into a “personality content” instead of focusing on policy.
“Democrats have no answers on the record-setting inflation and the open-border policies that have both defined VP Harris’ tenure in the White House and have decimated family budgets across North Carolina,” the NCGOP wrote in the statement. “The left can try to smear Mark Robinson all they want, but when voters go to the polls on Election Day, they are going be asking one simple question: are you better off now than you were four years ago? The answer is overwhelmingly no and that’s why Republicans will win on Nov. 5.”
In response to a video that appears to show Vance ignoring a question about Robinson, Vance wrote on his X account, “My comment on Mark Robinson is that Kamala Harris cast the deciding vote on the Inflation Explosion Act and because of that a lot of Americans can’t afford groceries”.
Robinson’s endorsement from Trump
Earlier this year, on March 3, Trump endorsed Robinson in his hometown, Greensboro. In that speech, he compared him to Martin Luther King, Jr.
In response, a statement from the Robinson campaign said, “I look forward to partnering with him take on the failed Biden-Stein agenda, lead our united Republican ticket to victory in November, and get our state and country back on track.”
A poll released the same day as as the report shows Stein leading Robinson 48% to 40% in the North Carolina governor’s race, with 10% of voters undecided. Harris leads Trump by one percentage point in North Carolina, 49% to 48%, flipping the one-percent lead Trump had in last month’s poll.
CBS 17 asked N.C. State political science professor Steven Greene what kind of impact, if any, he believes this will have on the governor’s race.
“To be honest it already looked like he was well on the path to losing this election,” Greene said.
Greene said if the online comments impact other races, it’s more likely to be a handful of close state legislature contests not the race for president.
“I just think people have such strong opinions on the presidential race that it seems unlikely to me that what’s going on in the governor’s race will affect that substantially,” Greene said.