Images: Republican Governors Association and North Carolina Office of the Lt. Governor
A national campaign group dedicated to electing Republican governors said Monday that it had no future advertising planned in North Carolina with just over a month remaining before Election Day.
The Republican Governors Association, which as recently as last week made a seven-figure investment attacking Democratic candidate and Attorney General Josh Stein, confirmed that “no further placements” had been made for TV or other advertising in the North Carolina race.
“We don’t comment on internal strategy or investment decisions, but we can confirm what’s public — our current media buy in North Carolina expires tomorrow, and no further placements have been made,” said communications director Courtney Alexander. “RGA remains committed to electing Republican governors all across the country.”
The RGA’s decision to cut off money to the state is yet another indication that national Republicans see dire prospects in the race for Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the North Carolina Republican nominee. In the days since CNN reported a history of racial and sexual online comments, he has been left out of Donald Trump and JD Vance campaign events in the state, seen a mass exodus of campaign staff, and been called on to suspend his campaign by a Republican legislative candidate.
Robinson has called the report “salacious tabloid lies” and said they were “not the words of Mark Robinson.” His campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the RGA decision Monday.
The bulk of the RGA’s recent advertising has been focused on attacking Stein and tying him to the White House and Vice President Kamala Harris, particularly on the economy and immigration. Their most recent ad, “Struggling,” zeroed in on a clip of Stein saying “President Biden has done such a great job jump-starting the economy.”
It remains to be seen where the RGA chooses to instead invest its resources with no further North Carolina spending planned. Only one other gubernatorial race is considered a “toss-up” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report — New Hampshire. The remaining seats up for election this fall are all rated either “likely” or “solid” for Republican or Democratic candidates.