Mark Robinson loses North Carolina's governor's race

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According to the Associated Press, Republican Lt. Governor Mark Robinson lost the race for North Carolina governor to Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, ending the provocative candidate’s campaign.

The loss comes afterwards polls in October showed Stein with a consistent double-digit lead ahead of Robinson. In September one CNN investigation linked Robinson, 56, to dozens of inflammatory and racist comments on a porn forum. The posts predate Robinson’s entry into politics and his current stint as lieutenant governor of North Carolina. Robinson has denied making the comments.

The poster with the comments called himself a “black NAZI,” expressed support for the restoration of slavery, and graphically described “peeping” on women as adolescents. They also reported enjoying transgender pornography.

Robinson has previously made comments that transgender women should be arrested when they enter the ladies’ room.

Since CNN’s report, many Republicans, including Donald Trumpdistanced themselves from the lieutenant governor. In October Robinson sued CNN about the investigation, stating that it was a “digital lynching,” and that the network ignored the fact that its accounts had been “compromised by multiple data breaches.”

Robinson has a history of making controversial comments. In 2021 he was criticized by White House and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper for comments about “transgenderism, homosexuality, all that filth.” Meanwhile, a few from Robinson Facebook postsdating from 2017 and 2018, is widely seen as anti-Semitic. At an event at the state legislature in October 2023, Robinson relented that “there have been some Facebook posts that were poorly worded on my part,” but went on to tell the audience, “There is no anti-Semitism for you here.”

Now that Stein is set to succeed his friend and mentor Cooper, North Carolina will be led by a Democrat for another four years.