Former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory (R) said his state's Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson is a “ticking time bomb” that could determine the outcome of the presidential election.
“About a month ago, the Trump campaign started to realize that Robinson might have had some dirty secret,” McCrory said during a CNN appearance on Wednesday, noting that the Trump campaign had “avoided” Robinson, the Tar Heel State lieutenant governor, over the past month. “But the reality is, most of us have known for over two years that this was a ticking time bomb.”
CNN reported last week that Robinson had posted numerous inflammatory comments on a pornography message board more than a decade ago, including claims that he was a “black Nazi” and supported the reinstatement of slavery. He also reportedly wrote that he would choose Adolf Hitler “over any motherfucker in Washington.”
McCrory said on CNN that Robinson was “stuck” in the state, but argued that Robinson was once “the most effective, dynamic and dangerous speaker I've ever seen in my political career.”
The former Republican governor said that if it was discovered that Robinson was on the ballot, it could affect the outcome of the election in North Carolina, which is likely to be a battleground state in November's presidential election.
“North Carolina has a tradition of splitting its vote in presidential and statewide elections, and I wouldn't be surprised if that split continues,” McCrory said, but stressed that even the impact of 5,000 or 10,000 voters “could make a big difference in the electoral votes for either Ms. Harris or former President Trump.”
Robinson announced Tuesday that he had hired the Northern Virginia-based law firm Binnall Law Group to investigate the “false and defamatory claims” in the CNN report. Senate Republicans have distanced themselves from the controversial candidate, with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) saying he will not vote for him in November's election. Neither Trump nor his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), have condemned Robinson's comments.
McCrory said Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, a North Carolina native and former state party chairman, “should have given the president a fair warning that this man could become a dangerous supporter of President Trump.”
Following CNN's report, Robinson's campaign staff members left the group one after another, and the Republican Governors Association announced that it had no plans to run any further ads in support of Robinson in the Republican race facing off against state Attorney General Josh Stein (Democrat).
Asked for comment, Robinson's campaign told The Hill the candidate's Wednesday Post to social platform X In the video, he is heard saying, “Republicans from top to bottom, from the president to the school board, have to win this vote. We've got to do it. We all know what's at stake.”
The video is accompanied by a caption saying Robinson has spoken to Republican leaders across North Carolina and said his race is “about policy, not personality.”
“Now is no time for party infighting and nonsense,” Robinson said in the post. “We have 41 days to make our case and we can only do it together. From President Trump to our local city officials, we must vote Republican.”
