Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday he was shocked by the “disturbing” accusations against North Carolina gubernatorial candidate and fellow Republican Mark Robinson.
“If that's true, he's unfit to hold public office,” the South Carolina politician said bluntly on NBC's “Meet the Press.” “If that's not true, he's going to be facing the largest defamation lawsuit in the history of this country.”
Robinson, who became North Carolina's first black lieutenant governor last week, denied a CNN report that he posted inflammatory sexual and racist messages on the message boards of pornography website Nude Africa between 2008 and 2012.
Among other allegations, Robinson was accused of calling himself a “black Nazi,” saying “slavery wasn't bad…I want it brought back,” and recalling “spying” on women in gym showers as a teenager.
Mr Robinson slammed the reports as “salacious tabloid rubbish” and categorically denied them.
“Rest assured, what you will see in this article are not the words of Mark Robinson,” he said, vowing to continue his campaign.
Many Republican leaders echoed Graham's sentiment that these were simply accusations against Robinson.
But Mr Graham added: “In my view, he needs to do much more.”
“He has a right to defend himself. He has a duty to defend himself. This casts a shadow over his campaign. If he doesn't offer a credible defense to this, he's a political zombie.”
Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, asked by an NBC reporter about the scandal, said of Robinson, “I don't believe him. It's not that I don't believe him.”
“I think sometimes these things have to be tried in the court of public opinion,” Vance said.
The shocking news sent shivers through North Carolina Republicans, where Robinson has long been an underdog in the gubernatorial race.
North Carolina is widely seen as one of the top seven battleground states in the presidential election, having last voted Democrat in 2008.
Former President Donald Trump holds a slim lead of about 0.1 percentage points in the latest election. RealClearPolitics Count It's a two-way race between him and his Democratic rival and vice presidential candidate, Kamala Harris.
Robinson is trailing North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein by 9.4 percentage points. Latest RCP Average.
Stein has publicly doubted Robinson's denials.
“If you look at his posts, they are consistent with what he said publicly on Facebook, which remains on his Facebook page,” Stein said Sunday on CNN's “State of the Union.”
“Mark Robinson is completely unfit to be Governor of North Carolina,” he continued. “Mark Robinson would not exist without the support of Donald Trump.”
North Carolina's incumbent governor, Roy Cooper (Democrat), has reached term limits, and before the election Republicans were hopeful they could flip the governorship to their own party.
Democrats are celebrating the scandal involving Robinson.
“This is great news for Democrats,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) said Sunday on NBC's “Meet the Press.” “Indeed, Robinson is an ideal new candidate to run against.”
