NC Democrats look to tie GOP to Mark Robinson’s racist, graphic comments in CNN story
Democrats are looking to capitalize up and down ballot on a CNN report about Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson that upended the North Carolina gubernatorial race this week.
CNN on Thursday published a story alleging the Republican governor nominee made a series of sexually explicit and racist comments on the message board of an adult website. Robinson swiftly denied he made the posts, which included saying “I’m a Black Nazi!” and “Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few.”
Less than 24 hours later, North Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Anderson Clayton and other party members held a news conference in Greensboro where they called Robinson a Republican “standard bearer.” Clayton called on voters and the media to question Republicans who endorsed Robinson about whether they still support him. Clayton also accused some GOP candidates of deleting pictures with him.
“He represents their party ... The rest of the Republican ticket would serve as nothing but a rubber stamp for his agenda,” she said.
The North Carolina Republican Party appeared to stand by Robinson in a statement after the story. But a number of prominent Republican politicians split with their party’s view and told Robinson to prove he didn’t make the comments.
NC, national Dems try to tie Robinson to other GOP candidates
Robinson’s Democratic opponent, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, said in a statement Robinson “is completely unfit to be Governor.” Polls show Stein averaging about a 10-point lead over Robinson, but other Democratic candidates, including presidential nominee Kamala Harris, are in tighter races.
In the Charlotte area’s most closely watched legislative race, Democrat Nicole Sidman sent out a fundraising email tying her Republican opponent, state Rep. Tricia Cotham, to Robinson within hours of CNN’s report first airing.
“As Republican officials continue to stand by Mark Robinson, I urge my opponent Tricia Cotham to disavow him in the strongest terms,” Sidman said in a statement to The Charlotte Observer. Cotham did not respond to a request for comment on Sidman’s campaign email and the CNN story.
Charlotte-area Congressman Jeff Jackson, the Democratic nominee for state attorney general. took to social media Friday to share a video of his opponent, U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop, praising Robinson cut with clips of CNN’s coverage of their Thursday story.
National Democrats are getting involved, too.
The Democratic National Campaign Committee sent an email Friday accusing Republican congressional candidate Laurie Buckhout of being “conspicuously silent” on Robinson and deleting pictures with him previously posted on her social media. Buckhout is running against Democratic Rep. Don Davis in North Carolina’s only truly competitive U.S. House district.
The Kamala Harris campaign is launching a six-figure ad buy Friday, The Raleigh News & Observer reported, with commercials showing Trump praising Robinson for being “an unbelievable lieutenant governor” and better than “Martin Luther King.”
And the Democratic National Committee said Friday it was putting up billboards in Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro with a picture of Trump and Robinson and quotes of Trump praising Robinson.
With North Carolina expected to play a pivotal role in the presidential race, Clayton told reporters Friday the state party will continue to spotlight Robinson’s comments down the stretch.
“We want to help make sure that people understand everywhere that (Republican candidates) from Donald Trump down the ballot have endorsed Mark Robinson, and anyone that has fully put their support behind him would again be a rubber stamp on his agenda,” she said.
Republican response to CNN Mark Robinson story
The North Carolina Republican Party in a statement accused Democrats of making the election “a personality contest, not a policy contest.”
“The Left can try to smear Mark Robinson all they want,” the NC Republican Party said. “But when voters go to the polls on Election Day, they are going to 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.”
North Carolina’s Republican State Treasurer Dale Folwell, who ran against Robinson in the Republican gubernatorial primary earlier this year, told the News & Observer CNN’s report was “not a shock to me.”
“It seems like anyone who’s ever come in contact with (Robinson) has been fleeced. And this is just the latest example of the taxpayers and the donors getting fleeced,” he said.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said on social media Thursday “we must stay focused on the races we can win.”
“If Harris takes NC, she takes the White House,” he said. “We can’t let that happen.”
Robinson was not at Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance’s event in Raleigh on Wednesday, and he’s not expected to attend Trump’s Saturday rally in Wilmington, the Associated Press reported.
McClatchy reporters Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan and Danielle Battaglia contributed to this story.
This story was originally published September 20, 2024 at 3:33 PM.
