North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson vowed Thursday to stay in the race despite a CNN report that he posted racial and sexist comments on an online message board, saying he was compelled to do so by “campaign lies that they don’t make.”
Robinson, the current lieutenant governor who narrowly won the Republican gubernatorial primary in March, has trailed Democratic candidate Josh Stein, the current attorney general, in several recent polls.
“We will continue to compete. We will get there,” Robinson said in a video posted Thursday on social media platform X. “And we know that with your help, we will get there.”
In the video, Robinson hinted at a story he said CNN was working on, but did not elaborate.
“Let me assure you that what you are going to see in this story are not the words of Mark Robinson,” he said. “You know my words. You know my character.”
CNN reports that Robinson posted a series of racist and sexist comments on a pornographic website’s forum more than a decade ago.
CNN reported that Robinson, who would become North Carolina’s first black governor, attacked civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. with harsh words and once called himself a “black Nazi.”
CNN also reported that Robinson wrote about his memories of waking up in a gym shower at age 14 and watching transgender pornography. According to CNN, Robinson called himself a “pervert” at one point.
The Associated Press has not independently verified that Robinson wrote and posted the messages. CNN said it compared the account details on the pornographic website’s forum to Robinson’s other online accounts by comparing his username, known email address and full name.
CNN reported that details reviewed by the account owner matched Robinson’s age, length of marriage and other biographical information. It also compared the number of words that frequently appeared on her public Twitter profile to those that appeared in discussions on a pornographic website account.
Media have previously reported on a speech Robinson gave at a church in 2021 in which he used the word “dirty” when talking about gay and transgender people.
Robinson has a history of incendiary comments that Stein said made him too extreme to lead in North Carolina. They have already contributed to Robinson’s campaign to undermine former President Donald Trump in order to win the battleground state’s 16 electoral votes and other potential Republican candidates in the election.
Recent polls in North Carolina show Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in a tight race. The same polls showed Steyn leading Robinson by about 10 points.
Stein and his associates have often cited a facebook post from 2019, in which Robinson said that abortion in the United States is “killing a baby because you were not responsible for wearing your skirt.”
Stein’s campaign said in a statement after the report that “North Carolinians already know that Mark Robinson is completely unfit to be governor.”
State law says a gubernatorial candidate can withdraw no later than one day before the first absentee ballots requested by military and overseas voters are distributed. That begins Friday, so the rollout date will be Thursday night.
Trump has repeatedly expressed support for Robinson, who is considered a rising star in his party and known for his impassioned speeches and offensive rhetoric. Before the March election, Trump called Robinson “Martin Luther King on steroids” at a rally in Greensboro.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the report. GOP campaign officials also did not respond to questions about why Robinson was not with vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance when he campaigned in Raleigh on Wednesday and whether Robinson would be with Trump in Wilmington on Saturday.
Robinson, 56, was elected lieutenant governor in his first run for public office in 2020. He tells the story of a life of childhood poverty, jobs he blames for the end of the North American Free Trade Agreement and personal bankruptcy. His four-minute speech to the Greensboro City Council defending gun rights and lamenting the “villainization” of police officers went viral and landed him a National Rifle Association council position and popularity among conservative voters.
