GOP governors pull support for Mark Robinson

A few Republican governors have pulled their endorsements of North Carolina GOP gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson in recent days following the CNN report of the many incendiary remarks he allegedly made on a pornography website’s message forum. 

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin have all said they will no longer support Robinson in the aftermath of the report that he posted inflammatory comments on the site more than 10 years ago, including that he wished for slavery to be reinstated and preferred Adolf Hitler to be in charge of the country in 2012 instead of the leaders at the time. 

Robinson, North Carolina’s current lieutenant governor, has vowed to stay in the race and has denied the report.

A spokesperson for Lee told The Tennessean on Monday that the governor was “no longer” supporting Robinson’s candidacy. Lee is the chair of the Republican Governors Association (RGA), a group dedicated to electing Republicans to governorships. 

The RGA has also seemed to pull back from its spending to boost Robinson, with its most recent North Carolina ad buy having expired Tuesday and the group’s communications director saying no additional placements had been planned.

Lee was scheduled to travel to North Carolina for a fundraiser with Robinson this week, but the event was canceled, and Lee is no longer going to the state. 

Kemp also withdrew his support for Robinson on Monday after The Atlanta-Journal Constitution obtained photos of Kemp speaking at a fundraiser for Robinson last month. 

“The governor attended the fundraiser as vice chair of the Republican Governors Association and will not be offering further support to the Robinson campaign,” a senior deputy for Kemp told the outlet. 

Youngkin followed suit Wednesday, with a spokesperson for his PAC telling a local outlet that the governor attended an event for Robinson in August as a member of the RGA’s executive committee and “has no plans to further support his candidacy.”

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) did not go as far as pulling his endorsement but said he doesn‘t “think I’ll be going back” to North Carolina to campaign.

“I haven’t read but just a little bit of them. I mean, I think that they cause some, raise some eyebrows,” he told the South Carolina news outlet The State. “But on the other hand, it’s easy to destroy somebody’s reputation these days. I don’t know what’s true and what’s not true; I like to give everybody the benefit of the doubt. But apparently it’s caused some trouble in his campaign.” 

McMaster, another member of the RGA’s executive committee, told the outlet the group has spent a lot of money on Robinson already, and the lack of additional ad buys “doesn’t mean that we’re not hoping Republicans will go vote for him, but the RGA reached the limits of what they could spend and decided to not spend more on that race.”

The decisions from the governors is the latest blow to Robinson’s campaign after the Thursday report, which also stated that Robinson had called himself a “black Nazi” and expressed enjoyment of transgender porn.

After the report, a few Republicans in North Carolina distanced themselves from Robinson, and he did not attend a rally former President Trump held in the state this past weekend. Trump endorsed Robinson in the primary and often praised him before the report came out. 

Several of Robinson’s top staff also resigned from their positions after the report, including his campaign manager, deputy campaign manager, finance director and general consultant. 

Robinson has remained adamant that he is continuing with the race despite some pressure he has received to step aside. 

In response to the governors withdrawing their endorsement, a spokesperson for Robinson’s campaign pointed to a post the lieutenant governor sent Wednesday on the social platform X in which he said he spoke with GOP leaders across North Carolina and told them the election is about “policies, not personalities.” 

“Now is not the time for intra-party squabbling and nonsense,” he said. “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.” 

Lauren Irwin contributed.