From the Washington Examiner: Four staff members of Mark Robinson‘s campaign resigned on Sunday, just days after a report alleged the North Carolina gubernatorial nominee used racist, antisemitic, and homophobic slurs in posts on a pornographic forum.
In an email, the Robinson campaign announced that Conrad Pogorzelski, senior adviser; Chris Rodriguez, campaign manager; Heather Whillier, finance director; and Jason Rizk, deputy campaign manager, have stepped down from their roles. The email noted that new campaign staff members will be announced “in the coming days.”
The campaign email also included a statement from Robinson, in which he thanked the staff members for their work and attempted to reassure voters that his campaign is on track to win in November.
“I appreciate the efforts of these team members who have made the difficult choice to step away from the campaign. … Polls have consistently underestimated Republican support in North Carolina for several cycles now and with a large portion of the electorate still undecided as we continue to ramp up our efforts across the state, I am confident our campaign remains in a strong position to make our case to the voters and win on November 5,” he said.
However, the departure of these staff members marks the latest in the fallout from the controversy surrounding Robinson after a CNN report released on Thursday alleged he called Martin Luther King Jr. “Martin Lucifer Koon,” supported the reinstatement of slavery, and posted sexually graphic comments on the forum “Nude Africa.” These alleged posts predate his time as lieutenant governor of North Carolina, a role he has served in since 2021.
CNN released the report on Robinson on Thursday of last week:
NEW on CNN: ‘I’m a black NAZI!’: NC GOP nominee for governor Mark Robinson made dozens of disturbing comments on porn forum https://t.co/gZvVGKJjAG
— Andy Kaczynski (@KFILE) September 19, 2024
Robinson has vowed to stay in the race and called the CNN report “salacious tabloid trash.” He released the following video statement on Thursday:
I wanted to take a minute to address the latest outrageous lies coming from my opponent’s dishonest campaign: #ncgov #ncpol pic.twitter.com/RtteVUiozr
— Mark Robinson (@markrobinsonNC) September 19, 2024
The North Carolina Republican Party is standing by Robinson:
— NCGOP (@NCGOP) September 20, 2024
The Democrat gubernatorial candidate, current North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, has seized on the CNN report against Robinson, and declared that he is “absolutely unfit to be the governor of North Carolina.”
“Mark Robinson is absolutely unfit to be the governor of North Carolina.”@JoshStein_ responds to a new CNN report on Mark Robinson’s vulgar and disturbing comments on a porn website in an interview with @jaketapper. pic.twitter.com/2kmfPhO2fN
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) September 22, 2024
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