A scandal erupting around Trump-backed Republican North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson is a “gut punch” for Republicans in the Tar Heel State, according to former GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger.
CNN reported on Thursday that Robinson, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump and serves as North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, had made a series of disturbing posts to a pornography website more than a decade ago.
Robinson reportedly called himself a “Black Nazi,” declared that he believes “slavery is not bad,” called Muslims “little rag-headed bastards” and discussed his love of transgender pornography despite later repeatedly delivering anti-transgender statements as a politician.
While CNN extensively documented evidence that appears to clearly link Robinson to the posts, the Republican has refused to drop out of the gubernatorial race and denies making the remarks, calling them “outrageous lies.”
Republican North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson is pictured during a Trump campaign event in Asheville, North Carolina, on August 14. Former GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger on Thursday called a scandal concerning Robinson’s reported posts to a pornography website a “gut punch” for Republicans in the battleground state.
Grant Baldwin
Kinzinger, a Trump critic who has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris this year, said during a CNN broadcast on Thursday night that the Robinson revelations were “devastating” to North Carolina Republicans and could damage the Trump campaign.
“This is devastating from a campaign perspective,” Kinzinger said. “Obviously, he’ll lose North Carolina. But the Trump campaign ought to be very concerned because if there are people disheartened by him, they’ll either not show up or maybe they’ll vote for Kamala.”
“This is not good for them for a very close state,” he continued. “It could bring down some of the enthusiasm. I mean, this is like a gut punch to anybody who’s a Republican in North Carolina to learn this. In a race that’s gonna be so close, any kind of an attack on motivation can make a huge difference.”
Newsweek reached out for comment to the Trump campaign via email on Thursday night.
Polling has suggested that North Carolina’s presidential election is in a dead heat, with an average of recent polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight showing Trump leading the race by a statistically insignificant 0.1 percent as of Thursday evening.
Robinson’s campaign, however, had been struggling even before the scandal erupted. The Republican has been polling behind Democratic candidate Josh Stein for months, with several surveys released in September showing him trailing by double digits.
Robinson called the CNN report “salacious tabloid trash” in a video statement shared on social media, insisting that the posts “are not the words of Mark Robinson” while accusing Stein of instigating what he called a “high-tech lynching.”
The North Carolina Republican Party also defended its candidate in a statement on Thursday, claiming that the posts to pornography website “Nude Africa,” made from 2008 to 2012, were the result of “the Left” attempting to “smear” him before the current election.
“Mark Robinson has categorically denied the allegations made by CNN but that won’t stop the Left from trying to demonize him via personal attacks,” the party wrote. “The Left can try to smear Mark Robinson all they want … Republicans will win on November 5th.”
Trump, who enthusiastically endorsed Robinson and previously praised him as “Martin Luther King on steroids,” remained silent on the scandal at the time of publication.
The Trump campaign told NBC News in a statement that the former president is “focused on winning the White House” and called North Carolina “a vital part of that plan” without mentioning Robinson.
