The Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina vowed to stay in the race Thursday after CNN reported he called himself a “black NAZI” and proposed restoring slavery in comments posted on a pornographic website.
Mark Robinson, an African-American who has denied making the remarks, is North Carolina’s lieutenant governor and is running for governor in the Nov. 5 election against Democratic candidate Josh Stein, the state’s attorney general.
The North Carolina governor’s campaign has implications for the presidential race. The fate of the leading candidates could affect turnout or enthusiasm among supporters in one of the most divided states in the campaign, which could swing the election between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.
Mr Robinson, 56, who was endorsed by Mr Trump, has made inflammatory comments before and posted a video denial on social media before the CNN story was published.
“Let me reassure you: The things you will see in this report are not the words of Mark Robinson,” the candidate said, calling the CNN report “salacious tabloid lies.”
“We’re still in the race,” Robinson said.
According to CNN, Mark Robinson wrote on the porn site in October 2010: “Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it back (slavery). I would definitely buy a few.”
CNN said Robinson also posted a series of “gratuitously sexual and obscene” messages between 2008 and 2012, before he entered politics, and that it only reported a small portion of those messages because of their graphic nature. Many of them contradict his public positions on issues such as abortion and transgender rights, CNN said.
Reuters was not immediately able to verify the messages.
Ms. Stein, her opponent, has echoed some of Mr. Robinson’s controversial comments in television attack ads, and her campaign issued a statement condemning him on Thursday.
“North Carolinians already know that Mark Robinson is completely unfit to be governor. Josh remains focused on winning this campaign so that together we can build a safer, stronger North Carolina for everyone,” Stein’s campaign said.
Following the publication of the CNN article, Mr. Harris’ campaign posted videos of Mr. Trump praising Mr. Robinson. Mr. Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr. Trump is holding a rally in the state on Saturday.
At least one North Carolina Republican, U.S. Representative Richard Hudson, called the CNN report “very disturbing” and said he believed Mr. Robinson needed to do more to reassure voters that the allegations were false.
Under North Carolina law, the deadline for Robinson to withdraw from the race would be 11:59 p.m. Thursday, the day before the state begins sending mail-in ballots to military members and overseas voters. If he withdraws, the state Republican Party executive committee will select a replacement.
Absentee ballots bearing Robinson’s name have already been printed for all 100 counties, and some counties have already begun receiving printed ballots for early voting and Election Day, according to a spokesman for the state elections commission, Patrick Gannon. If a candidate withdraws and ballots cannot be reprinted, the votes for that candidate will go to the replacement candidate.
A few years ago, before running for office, Mr. Robinson questioned the Holocaust in Facebook posts. He denied being anti-Semitic and said his critics were twisting his words.
In 2021, he used the word “filth” when referring to homosexuals and transsexuals.
