By Jesus Mesa and Carlo Versano
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North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, the Trump-endorsed Republican nominee for governor, said he will not drop out of the race despite an explosive story published by CNN Thursday that resurfaces his alleged activity on an adult website more than a decade ago, in which the social conservative reportedly described himself as a "black NAZI!," expressed support for bringing back slavery and said he enjoyed watching transgender pornography.
Robinson was facing pressure from within his party to drop out before the end of the day Thursday, which is the deadline to withdrawal from the race ahead of the first absentee ballots being mailed out on Friday. The Trump campaign was said to be among those urging him to drop out.
The Carolina Journal reported that Attorney General Josh Stein's campaign leaked the story to CNN and Raleigh's WRAL. Stein is Robinson's Democratic opponent in the North Carolina governor's race.
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The CNN story identified Robinson as the person behind a username who posted on a message board for the website "Nude Africa" between 2008 and 2012. Among the graphic, racist, sexist and homophobic and antisemitic comments CNN resurfaced, the person the outlet identifies as Robinson said: "Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few."
"I'd take Hitler over any of the sh** that's in Washington right now!" he allegedly wrote in 2012, during the Obama administration.
In one 2010 post, Robinson allegedly wrote unprovoked: "I'm a black NAZI!"
Robinson denied that he was behind those posts to CNN, and also in a video message posted to his social media accounts in the minutes before the story was published.
Newsweek has reached out to the lieutenant governor's spokesperson and campaign, which pointed back to that video message.
Robinson said that he was ready to defend himself and accused his opponents of trying to divert attention to "tabloid trash."
"The things you see in that story are not my words. You know my words, my character, and I've been completely transparent in this campaign," Robinson said in the video.
Robinson, a one-time favorite of Donald Trump's, is looking to succeed term-limited Democrat Roy Cooper in a state that has voted for Trump twice and has backed Republicans for the presidency all but once since 1980. Robinson is popular for his working-class history and a blunt speaking style that resembles that of Trump himself.
But Robinson also has a history of inflammatory comments that his opponent has said makes him too extreme to lead North Carolina. It raises the prospect that campaign struggles for Robinson could hurt Trump's chances to win a state he cannot afford to lose to Democrat Kamala Harris in the White House race.
In a Facebook post in 2019, Robinson said abortion in America was about "killing the child because you weren't responsible enough to keep your skirt down." In a 2021 speech in a church, he used the word "filth" when discussing gay and transgender people.
Democrats led by Cooper, a top surrogate for Harris, have tried to make the case that North Carolina's 16 electoral votes are ripe for the taking. Trump's 1.3 percentage point victory in North Carolina over Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 was the narrowest among the states he won.
Cooper argues that Republican candidates with views closely linked to Trump—Robinson and state schools superintendent candidate Michele Morrow among them—could turn out people who otherwise would not have voted for Democrats.
Stein held a lead over Robinson in two polls of North Carolina voters conducted in August.
While the state has a history of backing the Republican candidate for president, it has elected a Democratic governor in seven of the last eight races.
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