How the Robinson Report Could Affect the Presidential Race in North Carolina

How the Robinson Report Could Affect the Presidential Race in North Carolina

A Democratic presidential candidate has not won North Carolina since 2008. But the drama around Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor, is sure to bolster their hopes.

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By Maya King

The newly unearthed remarks that CNN says Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina made on a pornographic messaging forum years ago are certain to amplify Republican fears that his bid for governor there could be a drag on the party’s presidential prospects in a crucial state.

Since the earliest days of his campaign for governor, Mr. Robinson’s campaign has had to deflect a wave of headlines about his past comments on abortion, homosexuality and the separation of church and state. Now, with CNN reporting that he once defended slavery and called himself a “Black Nazi,” a growing number of North Carolina Republicans have grown quietly despondent.

Even before the report emerged on Thursday, the state’s Republicans were increasingly concerned about their chances of retaking the governor’s mansion, with Mr. Robinson trailing his Democratic rival, Josh Stein, the state’s attorney general, by more than a dozen percentage points in some polls.

And while a Democratic presidential candidate has not won North Carolina since 2008, when Barack Obama became the first in his party in more than three decades to do so, Democrats are feeling hopeful. A flailing Mr. Robinson, combined with the fact that Vice President Kamala Harris has drawn more support among key portions of the Democratic base there than President Biden had been able to, could create an opening for them to reverse their fortunes in a state that has broken their hearts over several election cycles.

North Carolina’s demographics have also changed considerably in the last 16 years as an influx of young people and people of color have moved to the state. A better-funded party operation in key corners of the state has also helped galvanize more Democratic voters.

Ms. Harris’s allies are paying attention, too. A senior adviser to her campaign, David Plouffe, responded to CNN’s reporting with four simple words: “16 key electoral votes.”

Ms. Harris’s presidential campaign and allied Democratic groups are pouring millions into advertising and canvassing operations across the state in the hopes of flipping it and helping to elect a handful of state house candidates to break the Republican supermajority there. Minutes after CNN published its story, Ms. Harris’s campaign released a video advertisement showing video footage of former President Donald J. Trump as he praised Mr. Robinson and called him “Martin Luther King on steroids.”

Mr. Robinson has also vowed to stay in the race for governor, saying in a video on Thursday that the story was a leak from Mr. Stein, his Democratic opponent, though he offered no evidence of that.

“We are staying in this race,” he said in a direct appeal to his supporters. “We are in it to win it. With your help, we will.”