Mark Robinson’s remaining days on the campaign trail are jam-packed with rallies, his campaign says — and they’re not with Donald Trump.
The race for governor appears to have strayed out of reach for Republicans. Democratic nominee Attorney General Josh Stein has a significant fundraising advantage and a double-digit lead in the polls over Robinson, the state’s current lieutenant governor. The Republican Governors Association has made no placements for pro-Robinson ads in the final week. A portion of his campaign staff resigned in the days following CNN’s bombshell report that Robinson had a history of posting sexually explicit and racist messages on a porn website chat forum. And Trump himself, once a major endorser, has attempted to draw distance between his campaign and Robinson’s.
Inside the Robinson operation, the team is putting on blinders and silencing the noise, insisting that despite it all, Republicans have a path toward victory in the governor’s race.
“The morale of the campaign is higher than it’s been in a very long time, and probably since the primary,” Matt Hurley, a Robinson campaign adviser, told NOTUS. “It doesn’t ever get talked about, the depth and breadth of our ground game.”
Hurley said Robinson’s campaign infrastructure largely stayed in place after the CNN report. “There was no mass exodus,” he said, saying the campaign’s grassroots effort, including over 120 people, saw virtually no turnover in the wake of the news.
In the last month, Robinson’s campaign has put him on offense: Robinson hired the Binnall Law Group to lead an investigation into CNN’s report, claiming that the outlet has spread “salacious lies.” The lieutenant governor has also been doing a minimum of five to upwards of nine events a day, according to the campaign.
“What rose Mark to be such a prominent political figure from the beginning was his sort of grassroots, bold, unapologetic enigma,” Hurley said. “First and foremost was to allow Mark to get out there, shake hands and talk with voters.”
Since last week, the campaign has posted photos of Robinson in Anson, Randolph and Currituck counties. Robinson’s campaign also said he will make stops in Carteret County, Rocky Mount and Elon with other GOP candidates who openly support him in the final week, including secretary of state candidate Chad Brown.
“Democrats are doing anything to link us to Mark Robinson, and they can say whatever they want. I’m proud to be his friend,” Brown, who previously held a fundraiser with Robinson, told NOTUS. “He has been misidentified by Democrats. When he wins this election, it’s really going to be a big sting on them.”
It’s not just Democrats, however. Notably absent from those events: Trump and JD Vance. And Trump-allied Republicans in the state are already cutting their losses. Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley, who previously chaired the North Carolina GOP, told NOTUS last week that Robinson had a “tough race.”
North Carolina-based GOP strategist Wayne King, a staunch Trump supporter, went further.
“Mark Robinson is going to lose the governor’s race, and he’s going to hurt the other statewide candidates on the ballot,” King said. “It’s an alarming situation when you’re seven days out and the presidential candidate has backed off your campaign, you have no TV, reputable Republicans are scared to join you, your campaign staff has quit and a poll shows you 20 points down.”
Democrats, too, are doing everything they can to emphasize how Robinson appears to be persona non grata in his own party.
“If you’re a Republican voter or Mark Robinson supporter, there’s nothing about that that sends a good signal for you,” said Morgan Jackson, a political consultant to Stein. “When Donald Trump, the man who will embrace dictators and crazy conspiracy theorists, is all of a sudden deciding Robinson is too much for him, not a good sign for Robinson at all.”
Robinson’s campaign and allies have waved off the assertion that Trump’s campaign has distanced itself from them all together.
“Mark and Trump need to reach two very different voters,” Hurley said, saying the lieutenant governor is targeting moderate independent voters — and primarily women, whereas Trump’s focus is on rallying the base.
“We’ve got to build Mark’s tent,” Hurley said.
Brown said Trump “isn’t on the inside grounds as much” to see Robinson’s base of support.
“I’m dialed into this more than anybody, and I do get to see Mark, and I’ll tell you he has been nothing but good to me, my family, and steadfast in his relationship with the Christian faith,” he said.
Not everyone is buying it.
“If Mark Robinson wins, I will wear a Christian Laettner jersey while praising Eastern-style BBQ,” GOP strategist Doug Heye, a Tar Heels fan, said.
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Calen Razor is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.