North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson says his opinion on abortion 'matters very little'

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After months of questions about his position on abortion, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson said Tuesday his “opinion on that right now matters very little.”

The Republican governor candidate addressed Charlotte-area business and civic leaders Tuesday at a luncheon hosted by the Hood Hargett Breakfast Club, where he shared his thoughts on the economy, public education and, when asked, abortion.

Robinson for years supported a “heartbeat” bill, which would ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, the Raleigh News & Observer reported previously. But in an August campaign ad he says, “I stand by (North Carolina’s) current law,” which bans abortions, with exceptions, after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Then in an interview last week with The Charlotte Observer’s news partner WSOC-TV, Robinson said he would sign a 6-week abortion ban if elected governor.

On Tuesday, Robinson said he considers the state of North Carolina’s law settled because there is “consensus” around a 12-week ban with exceptions for survivors of rape and/or incest.

“I don’t get to decide this by myself ... When I was a social media influencer, guess what mattered? My opinion. When I was an activist, guess what mattered? The group that I was an activist for. As an elected official, guess what I have to go with? I have to go with consensus,” he said.

Robinson said the issue of abortion is brought up in elections to “to move away from” topics such as the economy and immigration. Any potential changes to the state’s law are in the hands of state representatives, “and what they decide, we can sign,” he said.

“It is time for us to move on, folks. We dealt with that issue. The people have spoken here in this state,” he said. “My opinion on that right now matters very little, because I don’t get to make that decision.”

Robinson also was asked Tuesday by an audience member to explain his comment on a 2019 Facebook live stream that abortion “is about killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.” Democratic nominee Josh Stein’s campaign has used the clip in ads this election cycle.

On Tuesday, Robinson said the ads edited him out of context by cutting out the rest of the line, where he said “or your pants up.”

“I was speaking about abortion on demand,” he said.

Abortion rights have proved to be a fruitful issue for Democrats since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and opened the door to new state-level bans of the procedure. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat’s presidential nominee, frequently mentions the issue on the campaign trail, and voters have turned out in support of a number of statewide ballot initiatives to preserve or expand the right to abortion.

Stein leads Robinson by an average of 9.2 percentage points in recent polls, according to RealClearPolitics.

Mark Robinson on Holocaust denial, daycare, teacher pay

The following are other statements Robinson made Tuesday during the luncheon:

—Asked about past allegations of antisemitism, Robinson said Tuesday he’s not a Holocaust denier.

He’s been criticized previously for a past Facebook post that called reports of the Holocaust “hogwash” and other comments on social media, as well as a 2019 podcast appearance when he appeared to endorse the host’s conspiracy theory that Jewish bankers are one of the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” On Tuesday, he called the claims “despicable” and said he stood with Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that set off the latest war in the region despite getting “kicked in the teeth” for it politically.

Robinson said he visited Israel after the events of Oct. 7, describing the trip as a “life changing experience.”

—Robinson also pushed back on ads run by Stein’s campaign criticizing him for a daycare he and his wife ran.

State officials cited the Precious Beginnings Child Development Center in Greensboro, owned by Robinson’s wife, for several violations in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Robinson said Tuesday the daycare was “one of the proudest moments of our lives” and said the commercial uses footage not of his daycare and interviews with people who weren’t connected to the child care facility.

The campaigns’ lawyers have exchanged letters on the ads previously. Lawyers for Robinson’s campaign wrote the ad includes “false attacks” and called for Stein’s campaign to stop airing them. Stein’s lawyers defended the ad in their response.

—Robinson said issues in North Carolina’s public education system are “not the fault of our school teachers.”

He said teachers are underpaid and that, if elected, he would raise teacher salaries by eliminating other jobs in the state’s “educational bureaucracy.”

Robinson said he believes elementary schools should offer a “classical education” centered on reading, writing and mathematics. He called for more focus on career readiness in K-12 schools and said colleges and universities should offer flexibility for older students already in the workforce.