Republican former NC governor: Robinson a ‘ticking time bomb’

Former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) said the state’s GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson is a “ticking time bomb” who might tip the presidential election results.

“I got a feeling about a month ago, the Trump campaign was finding out that there could be some dirty laundry on Robinson,” McCrory said during a Wednesday appearance on CNN, noting the Trump campaign had been “avoiding” Robinson, the Tar Heel State’s lieutenant governor, for the past month. “But the fact of the matter is for over two years, most of us knew this was a ticking time bomb.”

CNN reported last week that Robinson wrote a bevy of inflammatory comments on a porn site message board more than 10 years ago, saying he was a “black NAZI” and voicing support for bringing slavery back. Robinson also reportedly wrote he would choose Adolf Hitler over “any of the s‑‑‑ that’s in Washington.”

McCrory said on CNN that Robinson is “dead in the water” in the state, but argued that Robinson, at one point, was “the most effective, dynamic, dangerous speaker I’ve ever seen in my political career.” 

The former GOP governor said revelations about Robinson’s presence on the ballot could affect the presidential results in North Carolina, a likely battleground state in November. 

“North Carolina has a tradition of ticket-splitting between the presidential races and statewide races, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that ticket-splitting continues,” McRory said, but emphasized that even an impact on 5,000 or 10,000 voters “could make the difference in all the electoral votes for either Harris or for former President Trump.”

Robinson announced Tuesday that that he hired Binnall Law Group, a firm based in northern Virginia, to investigate the “false smears” in the CNN report. Senate Republicans have distanced themselves from the controversial candidate, with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) indicating he would not vote for him in November. Neither Trump or his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), have condemned Robinson’s comments.

McCrory said Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley, a North Carolina native who previously chaired of the party in the state, should have “given the president fair warning that this guy could be a future dangerous advocate for President Trump.” 

Following the publication of CNN’s report, a flurry of staffers left Robinson’s campaign, and the Republican Governors Association said it had no future ad reservations in place to support the GOP candidate in his election against state Attorney General Josh Stein (D).

When reached for comment, Robinson’s campaign pointed The Hill to the candidate’s Wednesday post on the social platform X featuring a video of him saying, “Republicans have to win on this ballot from top to bottom, I am talking about from president to school board. We gotta do it folks, you all know what’s at stake here.” 

The video is accompanied by a caption stating Robinson spoke with GOP leaders across North Carolina and that his race is “about policies, not personalities.’ 

“Now is not the time for intra-party squabbling and nonsense,” Robinson said in the post. “We have 41 days to make our case – we can’t do it without all hands on deck. From President Trump to our local community officials, we must vote Republican.”