Mark Robinson Defends Campaign
North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, a Republican candidate for governor, visited Forsyth County on Friday to address an ongoing media controversy within his campaign.
Robinson, who was accused in a CNN report yesterday of making racist and sexually charged comments on an online message board over a decade ago, with the candidate vowing to stay in the race for governor.
Robinson denied the allegations “salacious tabloid lies” he said the comments the media has picked out do not represent who he is or what he thinks.
Robinson tried to calm his followers in a video he posted on social media, saying “you know my words. You know [my character]’ and, has since been depicting the profile of this story that doesn’t befit him. We are going to stay in this race. We are in it to win it”.
The CNN report issued last week said Robinson had made inflammatory statements on a pornographic website, including crude remark about civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and revealing incidents from his teenage years.
Robinson, however, did not specifically address these specifics in his statement and instead focused on denying the broad alternatives when seeking to assure his base of his integrity.
This is notable because of Robinson’s stature in the Republican Party. Even so, he enjoys backing in the Republican Party from certain corners as well as from former President Donald Trump.
While that, along with his prolific history of making statements that are deemed to be anywhere from offensive to outright hateful (such as — this year — branding the LGBTQ+ community ‘filth’), keeps him in hot water with political opponents but even in some corners of his party.
Polls conducted in recent weeks show Robinson trailing his Democratic challenger, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, in the midst of a contentious gubernatorial election.
The fact that these controversies have all come to a head at once has certainly added pressure to his campaign, but Robinson’s defiance and eagerness tells us how much he wants out this even if the world is looking on.
