Voters divided over Mark Robinson at North Carolina rally as Trump remains silent in his support

Former President Donald Trump again didn’t mention Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson at his Wednesday rally in Mint Hill, North Carolina, despite his previous enthusiastic endorsement of the state's lieutenant governor and other state Republicans.

Trump’s rally, held at a Mosack Group warehouse in southeastern Mecklenburg County, was the second North Carolina rally in the past week where Trump did not express his support for Robinson. Trump previously has said Robinson is an “unbelievable lieutenant governor” who voters should “cherish.”

But those comments were made before CNN reported Thursday Robinson had made numerous derogatory and racist comments on a pornography website over a decade ago. Those comments included Robinson calling himself a “Black Nazi,” admitting to secretly watching women shower when he was 14 and saying he supports slavery.

At Wednesday’s rally, Trump threw his support behind North Carolina Republican candidates for U.S. House, including Mark Harris and Pat Harrigan.

Robinson denies he wrote the comments and has called CNN’s report “salacious lies.”

What voters think

Although Trump didn’t mention Robinson, he was on voters’ minds, who said the new reports on the gubernatorial candidate have made them reconsider voting for him.

Vanessa Gregorio, a 55-year-old Wilmington resident, said she supports Trump based on his border and economic policies. On Robinson, she said she’s undecided.

“That one I’m really kind of struggling with,” she said. “The media can turn things around, but, you know, I’m gonna do my research.”

David Badger, a 67-year-old Mint Hill resident, said he attended the rally to hear what Trump had to say about the economy. He said if the CNN report about Robinson is true, he would probably not vote for him. Though, he added, he is “absolutely not sure” if the report is true.

A poll released this week by Elon University showed that while North Carolina is divided on the presidential race, Stein has a clear lead over Robinson in the gubernatorial race, The News & Observer previously reported. The poll was conducted before the news of Robinson’s comments broke.

Robinson posted on X shortly before Trump took the stage, saying his policies are more important than his personality.

“This morning I spoke with Republican leaders across the state and made it clear: This is an election about policies, not personalities,” he wrote. “Now is not the time for intra-party squabbling and nonsense.”

What politicians think

Since the CNN report, some Republicans have withdrawn their support of Robinson while others have condemned the comments. Some have called for Robinson to withdraw from the race for the good of the party.

Mark Harris, who is running for the 8th Congressional District, spoke at Wednesday’s rally. He told The Charlotte Observer after the rally he doesn’t know what to make of the CNN report.

“What I’ve seen characterized in the story is not the Mark Robinson that I’ve known since 2018,” he said. “Excuse me if I’m slow to buy everything CNN puts out there.”

Tuesday, Robinson announced he had hired the Binnall Law Group to “investigate where and how these false smears originated” and to potentially instigate legal action against CNN. Binnall previously worked as a lawyer for Trump.

Mark Harris said Robinson’s policies are what matter most.

“I think his policies are critical to North Carolina, and I think a lot of North Carolinians believe that. I think we realize Josh Stein is dangerous for North Carolina,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of people in North Carolina that are going to continue to stay and vote for Mark Robinson.”

Kamala Harris’ campaign held a news conference ahead of Wednesday’s rally where they connected Trump to Robinson based on his prior comments. Geoff Duncan, the former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia, said on the call that Republicans should denounce Robinson.

“I don’t think there’s any other moral reaction other than just completely disavowing every and all of those comments,” he said. “I mean it’s just a disgusting place for anybody to try to play milquetoast in.

“I would encourage any Republican to just once again, do the right thing and walk away from somebody who was not who they said they were, and certainly has not put on display any sort of Republican or conservative principles.”

Trump’s running mate Sen. J.D. Vance dodged questions about Robinson when he visited Charlotte Monday. When asked if he still supports Robinson’s campaign, he said he supports the people of North Carolina.

“What (Robinson) said or didn’t say is ultimately between him and the people of North Carolina,” Vance said.

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