RALEIGH — North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson vehemently denied that he would exit the gubernatorial race less than an hour before CNN released a story claiming Robinson referred to himself as “a black NAZI,” among other potentially scandalous comments, on a pornography message board.
In a Thursday afternoon post on X, Robinson blamed the media and his opponent, Attorney General Josh Stein, for the story that had many suggesting the Republican would abandon his run for governor.
“Let me reassure you, the things you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson,” he said in a video on X. “You know my words, you know my character, and you know I have been completely transparent in this race and before. … We are staying in this race, and we are in it to win it, and we know with your help, we will.”
I wanted to take a minute to address the latest outrageous lies coming from my opponent’s dishonest campaign: #ncgov #ncpol pic.twitter.com/RtteVUiozr
— Mark Robinson (@markrobinsonNC) September 19, 2024
A report by Carolina Journal said Robinson was under pressure from both former President Donald Trump’s campaign and his own campaign to step aside.
“Sources with direct knowledge have spoken with Carolina Journal on the condition of anonymity and said that Robinson is under pressure from staff and members of the Trump campaign to withdraw from the governor’s race due to the nature of the story, which they say involves activity on adult websites,” Carolina Journal reported.
A spokesperson for the Robinson campaign confirmed he did an interview with CNN but dismissed Carolina Journal’s article as “complete fiction.”
The CNN story says it tied Robinson to an account on “Nude Africa,” a pornography site that included a message board, and the comments were made between 2008 and 2012, before Robinson’s meteoric rise that led to his election as lieutenant governor.
Among the screen-captured posts by minisoldr — a username CNN said Robinson used on several platforms — were ones saying the user liked “watching tranny on girl porn!” The username also suggested he was indifferent to celebrities getting abortions. Throughout his political career, Robinson has often spoken out against abortion and transgender rights.
Other posts revealed a disdain for Martin Luther King Jr. and used slurs toward blacks, Jews and Muslims, according to CNN.
Following the CNN report, POLITICO published an article stating an email address for Robinson was found on the website Ashley Madison, which is a site where married people can seek out partners for an affair.
POLITICO says an “adviser to Robinson, granted anonymity to speak freely,” confirmed the email address belonged to Robinson but a spokesperson for Robinson said the lieutenant governor had not created an account on Ashley Madison.
Mike Lonergan, Robinson’s communications director, told POLITICO, “Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson denies that he ever created or used an account on this website.” The campaign also said that a website shows that email address had been involved in several data breaches.
Wake County Republican Scott Lassiter, who is running for state Senate in the 13th District, was the first member of the GOP to publicly call on Robinson to bow out of the race.
“As a proud Republican, I stand for hard work, fiscal responsibility, and liberty,” Lassiter said in a statement. “But no one should feel obligated to support a candidate solely due to party affiliation. 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.”
Republican Party officials had indicated the Robinson campaign is involved in talks of possibly suspending his campaign or even dropping out of the race entirely, but his social media video suggests otherwise. Should he withdraw, Thursday is the deadline. The date for removing his name from the ballot in North Carolina has already passed.
Robinson did not attend a campaign stop by Sen. JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate, in Raleigh on Wednesday. Robinson was mentioned once, by NCGOP Chair Jason Simmons, during the rally.
At a press event announcing the official renaming of Raleigh’s PNC Arena — home to the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes and the NC State men’s basketball team — to Lenovo Center, Gov. Roy Cooper dodged a question about Robinson’s rumored exit but said the lieutenant governor was “the wrong choice” to succeed him as governor.
Stein’s campaign issued a statement after the news broke that read, “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.”
“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,” Governor Roy Cooper wrote from his campaign account on X. “They reap what they sow.”
A statement issued by the NC Republican Party on X that in part says Robinson has “categorically denied the allegations made by CNN” and that the “Left needs this election to be a personality contest, not a policy contest because if voters are focused on policy, Republicans win on Election Day.”
— NCGOP (@NCGOP) September 20, 2024
A.P. Dillon contributed to this report.
