Mark Robinson Loses North Carolina Governor’s Race

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Republican Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson lost the race for North Carolina Governor to the state's Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, according to the Associated Press, ending the provocative candidate’s campaign.

The loss comes after polls in October showed Stein with a consistent double-digit lead ahead of Robinson. In September, a CNN investigation linked Robinson, 56, to dozens of inflammatory and racist comments on a porn forum. The posts predate Robinson’s entry into politics and current stint as North Carolina’s Lieutenant Governor. Robinson has denied making the comments.

The poster of the comments referred to themselves as a “black NAZI,” expressed support for reinstating slavery, and graphically described “peeping” on women as an adolescent. They also expressed enjoying transgender pornography.

Robinson has previously made comments that transgender women should be arrested if they enter the women’s restroom.

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Since CNN’s report, many Republicans, including Donald Trump, distanced themselves from the Lieutenant Governor. In October, Robinson sued CNN over the investigation, stating that it was a “digital lynching,” and that the network ignored the fact that his accounts had been “compromised by multiple data breaches.”

Robinson has a history of making  controversial remarks. In 2021, he was criticized by the White House and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper for comments about “transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth.” Meanwhile, some of Robinson’s Facebook posts, dating back to 2017 and 2018,  have been widely perceived as anti-semitic. During an event in the state legislature in October 2023, Robinson conceded that “there have been some Facebook posts that were poorly worded on my part,” but went on to tell the room, “there is no anti-semitism standing here in front of you.” 

With Stein now poised to succeed his friend and mentor Cooper, North Carolina will be led by a Democrat for another four years.