Republican Governors’ Campaign Arm Won’t Invest in North Carolina After Lewd Comments by Mark Robinson Resurface

The campaign arm of America’s Republican governors will not invest any more resources in the North Carolina gubernatorial election following the disclosure of lewd comments made on a pornography website by the party’s nominee, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, more than a decade ago. Mr. Robinson denies that the comments are his. The Republicans Governors Association — an outside spending group charged with electing Republicans to governors’ offices in all 50 states and America’s territories — says that they will not renew advertising spending that is due to expire on Tuesday. “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,” the RGA’s communications director, Courtney Alexander, said in a statement to the National Review. “RGA remains committed to electing Republican Governors all across the country.”Mr. Robinson has been accused of posting a number of antisemitic, racist, and sexual comments on a pornography website called Nude Africa between 2008 and 2012. In those comments allegedly posted by the lieutenant governor, he refers to himself as a “black NAZI,” says slavery should be reestablished so he can purchase his own, and that he once watched women shower in a public gym when he was a teenager. He also refers to himself as a “perv” in the comments. Following the CNN report on Thursday, the chairman of the RGA — Tennessee’s governor, Bill Lee — canceled a scheduled fundraiser with Mr. Robinson. According to AdImpact Politics — an outlet that tracks political ad spending — the RGA has already spent $16 million on Mr. Robinson’s race. Democrats have reserved $13 million to support their candidate, Attorney General Stein, through the November 5 election. North Carolina was seen as the most critical gubernatorial election of the year, given the state’s importance in national politics. The other states holding gubernatorial elections in November are all considered either safely blue or safely red, except for one. New Hampshire is holding a hotly contested race for governor this year following the eight-year tenure of Governor Sununu, who opted to retire. Mr. Robinson is not only at risk of costing Republicans the governor’s office, which has been held by a Democrat since 2017, this year, but he could potentially bring down President Trump’s campaign in the state. On Friday, the Democratic National Committee had already put up billboards tying Mr. Robinson to Trump. Republicans have not yet called on Mr. Robinson to drop out of the race, but instead have said that if the CNN reporting is false, then he needs to file a defamation lawsuit. Senator Graham, Senator Cotton, and Senator Tillis are just some of the GOP lawmakers who say Mr. Robinson needs to put his money where his mouth is. Mr. Robinson is now hinting that he will pursue such a claim. “We are not gonna let CNN throw us off of our mission,” Mr. Robinson told reporters during a campaign stop on Monday. “We’re in talks right now” about taking “CNN to task .. for what they’ve done,” Mr. Robinson said of a potential lawsuit. “I am coming after CNN full-throttle!” he said. On Sunday night, Mr. Robinson suffered a critical blow to his campaign when several top aides — including a senior advisor and his campaign manager — resigned from their posts. Mr. Robinson told reporters that he is now “in the process of forming a team” with just more than 40 days to go until election day.

Republican Governors’ Campaign Arm Won’t Invest in North Carolina After Lewd Comments by Mark Robinson Resurface

Republican Governors’ Campaign Arm Won’t Invest in North Carolina After Lewd Comments by Mark Robinson Resurface

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