North Carolina GOP nominee for governor Mark Robinson loses staff, ad buys after report of racist comments
Editor's note: This story contains highly offensive language.
Washington — North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's campaign for governor is bleeding staff, and ad buys for him are not being renewed, after a CNN investigation found he posted a slew of incendiary, explicit and racist comments on a pornographic website more than a decade ago.
The report, which Robinson denies, has rocked the governor's race as North Carolinians are about to begin casting their ballots this week, when mail ballots are sent. His opponent in the race is Democratic North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein.
Last Friday, Robinson's campaign announced its campaign manager, general consultant and senior adviser, finance director, and deputy campaign manager all stepped down from their roles with the campaign, thinning out key staff. And on Monday, the Republican Governors Association told the National Review its ad buys for Robinson in the state run out Tuesday, with no further placements at this time. Both are brutal blows for a campaign that was struggling in the polls before the CNN investigation upended it.
"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 RGA communications director Courtney Alexander. "RGA remains committed to electing Republican governors all across the country."
Robinson acknowledged his top campaign staffers' departure on Friday, following Thursday's CNN report.
"I appreciate the efforts of these team members who have made the difficult choice to step away from the campaign, and I wish them well in their future endeavors," Robinson said in a statement. "I look forward to announcing new staff roles in the coming days."
At an event in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, over the weekend, Robinson insisted his campaign would continue, and he has brushed off calls to drop out of the race.
"We have full confidence that we can go on," he told reporters. "We're getting resumes from all over. We're getting offers from all over. People are jumping in to help us. We've made a ton of friends in this thing since we've been in. A lot of talented people right now are reaching out to us, and we're right in the process right now of forming a team that we know can still lead us to victory."
The CNN report focused on comments made by an account with the name "minisoldr" on a pornographic website called Nude Africa between 2008 and 2012. The account used the name "mark robinson" in its profile and a number of biographical details posted by the account line up with Robinson's own history, according to CNN. The network reported that Robinson appeared to use the account name on other platforms over the years, including YouTube and Pinterest, and that the email address associated with the account belonged to Robinson.
"The things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson," Robinson said in a video statement last week. "You know my words, you know my character and you know that I have been completely transparent in this race and before."
On the Nude Africa forum, the user expressed a desire to "bring [slavery] back" and "buy a few" slaves, while identifying himself as a "black NAZI," according to CNN.
"Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few," the account wrote in a discussion about Black Republicans in 2010, according to CNN.
Former President Donald Trump visited North Carolina, a battleground state, over the weekend, and made no mention of Robinson. Trump has championed Robinson in the past and endorsed his candidacy for governor. In March, Trump hailed Robinson as "Martin Luther King on steroids."
Minisoldr used racist language to vilify civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr.
"I'm not in the KKK. They don't let blacks join. If I was in the KKK I would have called him Martin Lucifer Koon!" the account posted in October 2011, according to CNN.