Mark Robinson vows to stay in race for governor following CNN investigation

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

This is a developing story.

Multiple news outlets are reporting today that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the North Carolina Republican Party nominee for governor in the November election, is under pressure from his party and individuals within the Trump campaign to withdraw from the race. The reports presaged a CNN story released today that highlighted newly discovered online comments Robinson made prior to his time in public office.

According to the CNN investigation. Robinson referred to himself as a “black NAZI,” a “perv” and said “slavery is not bad” in messages posted on a pornography website more than a decade ago.

The report, which sent leaks and rumors flying across North Carolina politics ahead of its publication Thursday, also says Robinson wrote that he enjoyed watching transgender pornography and that he enjoyed “peeping” on women in public gym showers when he was 14 years old.

Robinson’s comments, made years before he initially became a public figure, mark another scandal in a campaign for governor already known for controversial comments and speeches about race, gender, sexuality and a range of other issues.

At least one Republican candidate, Wake County state Senate nominee Scott Lassiter, released a statement calling on Robinson to suspend his campaign in light of “the most recent scandal.”

Robinson, however, says he’s not going anywhere. In an emailed statement to NC Newsline, Robinson campaign manager Michael Lonergan said, “Whomever your sources are on the Carolina Journal story, it is complete fiction.”

In a video posted to social media Thursday afternoon, Robinson echoed that sentiment and blamed the “news media” and his opponent, Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein for what he called “outrageous lies” and “tabloid trash.”

“Let me reassure you, the things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson,” he said. “You know my words, you know my character and you know that I have been completely transparent in this race and before.”

“In this race right now, my opponent is desperate to shift the focus here from the substantive issues and focus on what you are concerned with, to salacious tabloid trash. We cannot allow that to happen.”

And he compared himself to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who once said he was a victim of “a high-tech lynching.”

“Well, it looks like Mark Robinson is too.”

The campaign cancelled two public events Robinson was scheduled to attend Thursday in Henderson and Norlina. A woman who works at Skipper Forsyth’s BBQ in Henderson said the campaign called this morning to cancel the meet-and-greet because of rain. Rachel’s Whistle Stop Cafe also confirmed a mid-day event in Norlina was cancelled, but did not say why.

State law requires candidates who wish to drop out of a race to do so “prior to the first day on which military and overseas absentee ballots are transmitted to voters,” which, as the result of recent court rulings issued in the case involving presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is tomorrow — September 20.

If Robinson were to withdraw from the race, the state Republican Party executive committee would choose a replacement. If the withdrawal were to occur after ballots are distributed, Robinson’s name would remain on the ballot, and votes he received would go to the named replacement. State law would bar the GOP from selecting either of the candidates Robinson defeated in the March primary — State Treasurer Dale Folwell and attorney Bill Graham.