Republicans in N.C. bracing for damaging story on gubernatorial candidate

Republicans in North Carolina were bracing Thursday for what some anticipated would be a damaging CNN story on Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor in North Carolina, with less than two months before the election, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

“For the sake of the party, for the sake of our down-ballot races … and for the sake of Donald Trump’s victory in North Carolina, I think Mark Robinson needs to drop out” if the report is as damaging as Republicans fear, said Jonathan Bridges, who managed the campaign of one of Robinson’s rivals in the GOP primary, former congressman Mark Walker.

Few seemed to know what the new information would entail, but Republican officials, including some working on behalf of Trump’s presidential campaign, were pressuring Robinson to withdraw from the race, according to multiple political professionals in the state who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly.

“[Republican]establishment is reeling and trying to figure out what to do,” one political operative in the state said in a text message. “Robinson is defiant and says he’s staying in.”

A Trump campaign official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly said the campaign is not reaching out directly to Robinson to try to encourage him to step aside.

Michael Lonergan, a spokesman for the Robinson campaign, said in an email that it was “complete fiction” that Robinson was under pressure to drop out of the race. Lonergan later said in a text message that Robinson is “most certainly not” dropping out.

A spokesperson for CNN did not respond to a request for comment about a possible upcoming report.

Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor, is running against Democrat Josh Stein, the North Carolina attorney general. They are vying to succeed term-limited Gov. Roy Cooper (D) in a state that is also hotly contested in the presidential race.

Robinson’s campaign has been weighted by his long history of incendiary rhetoric, including about a top issue this election cycle, abortion.

More recently, though, he has faced increased scrutiny over his personal life. The Assembly, a North Carolina news outlet, reported this month that he regularly visited porn shops in Greensboro in the 1990s and 2000s, long after he said he became a devoted Christian. Robinson’s campaign called the Assembly story “complete fiction.”

Even if Robinson were to withdraw from the governor’s race Thursday, it is probably too late to remove his name from the ballot, because absentee ballots have already been printed, said Karen Brinson Bell, who leads the State Board of Elections.

An additional complication, she said, is that overseas and military ballots are scheduled to go out Friday, as required by federal law. It would take about two weeks and cost more than $1 million to reprint ballots, Bell said.

“As the chief election officer, I know where we are in this process,” Bell said. “To remove a name from the ballot at this time would be an insurmountable hurdle.”

Bell noted that she thought it was too late to take independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name off the ballot when he requested that several weeks ago, but she was overruled by state courts.

If Robinson does withdraw, the state Republican Party would have the ability to nominate a new candidate, and votes for Robinson would go to that individual, Bell said. But Robinson’s name would remain on the ballot, she said.

Robinson’s campaign has had enthusiastic support from Trump, who praised Robinson this year as “Martin Luther King on steroids.”

But Robinson canceled an appearance with Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) in North Carolina this week, and Vance didn’t mention him.

Vice President Kamala Harris criticized Robinson while campaigning in the state, including during events there last week.

Robinson experienced a quick rise in politics after a video went viral of him advocating against gun control at a Greensboro City Council meeting in 2018. He launched a campaign for lieutenant governor the following year and won in a crowded GOP primary.