WILKESBORO, N.C. \u2014 His staff had just resigned en masse. His allies believed he would lose. His scandals now threatened to drag down his whole party in the critical state of North Carolina.<\/p>\n
But Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson plowed ahead with his Monday visit to a bakery, insisting to a small crowd of journalists and die-hard supporters that \u201cwe have full confidence we can go on.\u201d<\/p>\n
No matter that recent news reports tied him to an old account on a porn site that described an extramarital affair, praised slavery and recommended Adolf Hitler\u2019s \u201cMein Kampf\u201d as \u201ca good read.\u201d He denied it all.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not going to let CNN throw us off of our mission!\u201d Robinson said to whoops and cheers, referring to the outlet that first reported the porn site account.<\/p>\n
\u201cFake news!\u201d a woman shouted.<\/p>\n
The campaign stop Monday morning in Wilkesboro reflected Robinson\u2019s defiant response to the explosive allegations upending his campaign and panicking Republicans in North Carolina and beyond. Some in the GOP have pressed Robinson to drop out over the past week, fearful that the porn revelations will tank downballot candidates and even hurt Donald Trump in a crucial 2024 battleground state. But Robinson, the lieutenant governor of North Carolina, is pressing on, politically diminished.<\/p>\n
Downballot candidates once lined up to greet voters at Robinson\u2019s events and bask in his stardom. No longer. Now, state GOP leaders worry Robinson could alienate enough voters to cost them their supermajority in the General Assembly, and Trump made no mention of Robinson at his Saturday rally in North Carolina. A representative for the Republican Governors Association said Monday that \u201cno further placements\u201d had been made for ad buys in the race.<\/p>\n
In many ways, Robinson is now campaigning against the news media rather than Josh Stein, the state\u2019s Democratic attorney general. Speaking with the fiery indignation that once made him GOP star, Robinson on Monday accused the media of ignoring real issues in favor of \u201c15- to 20-year-old salacious false lies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want to talk about what possibly happened 15 years ago,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cLet\u2019s talk about right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
His campaign was in shambles six weeks out from Election Day. His general consultant Conrad Pogorzelski II had resigned along with at least seven other staff, Pogorzelski said \u2014 the campaign manager, deputy campaign manager, finance director, deputy finance director, director of operations and two political directors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t comment on internal strategy or investment decisions, but we can confirm what\u2019s public \u2014 our current media buy in North Carolina expires tomorrow, and no further placements have been made. RGA remains committed to electing Republican Governors all across the country,\u201d said RGA communications director Courtney Alexander.<\/p>\n
A handful of protesters taunted Robinson with signs as he arrived at Vernon\u2019s Cake Carousel Bakery, accompanied by one of his last remaining aides, communications director Mike Lonergan.<\/p>\n
\u201cHELP WANTED,\u201d one sign read, listing campaign manager and other newly vacant roles. Robinson claimed to reporters, without providing details, that \u201cwe\u2019re getting resumes from all over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robinson\u2019s fans carried on as if the upheaval was not happening. \u201cWe believe in you!\u201d someone shouted from the crowd of several dozen supporters.<\/p>\n
Dennis Caudill, 65, who showed up Monday morning wearing a Trump hat, said he doesn\u2019t put much stock in the accusations against Robinson. \u201cYou don\u2019t know what to believe in these times anymore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s team has long viewed North Carolina as an important part of their path to victory, and polls show Trump and the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris effectively tied. But Caudill brushed aside concerns that Robinson\u2019s drama could hurt Trump, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at the lies they tell on Trump,\u201d Caudill said.<\/p>\n
Nearby, protesters tried to interject.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour candidate is a self-proclaimed Nazi!\u201d one of them, Amy Cooper, told Robinson supporter Ryan Mathis \u2014 who soon wandered away.<\/p>\n
Mathis, 32, said he was not bothered by the old porn site comments \u2014 which included the declaration \u201cI\u2019m a black NAZI!\u201d He said he liked Robinson\u2019s policies and got emotional talking about how people could change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think anybody can be forgiven,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Robinson took pictures with his supporters, fielded a few questions and left after about half an hour. He made one last jab at the media on his way out \u2014 accusing a reporter of previously ignoring him when he became North Carolina\u2019s first Black lieutenant governor.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou did not knock on my door. Don\u2019t knock on it now!\u201d Robinson shouted.<\/p>\n
The crowd cheered, and Robinson got into his car and left.<\/p>\n
Patrick Svitek contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
WILKESBORO, N.C. \u2014 His staff had just resigned en masse. His allies believed he would lose. His scandals now threatened to drag down his whole party in the critical state of North Carolina. But Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson plowed ahead with his Monday visit to a bakery, insisting to a small crowd of journalists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}