Should we be worried about North Carolina?

North Carolina Lt. Gov. and Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson’s alleged involvement with adult sites is not what we need right now. It was bad enough that we likely lost this North Carolina gubernatorial race, as Robinson’s Democratic opponent, Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, has a significant lead over him, averaging nearly 10 points. Last Thursday, Robinson’s alleged Internet leanings led to a Sunday night massacre that saw most of his top campaign aides resign. With Robinson likely to go down in flames, attention now turns to how Democrats will use this fiasco against former President Donald Trump.

North Carolina is a very close state politically. It’s almost split in two along party lines, and you have to consider the students in the Research Triangle, especially if Trump is on the ticket. Most voters in this state don’t vote for anyone until the final weeks of the election. In 2016 and 2020, Trump won the race here, even if it was by only one to three points.

Trump has already called Robinson a Martin Luther King Jr. on steroids. Someone mentioned that it wouldn’t be shocking to see a lot of Democratic-cut ads flooding the state now that this scandal has broken. To sum up, here’s the circus that has engulfed Mr. Robinson (via The Guardian):

North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson described himself as a “black NAZI!” on a porn website forum, according to a new CNN report about the current lieutenant governor, who has already been marked by scandal and controversial remarks.

According to CNN, Robinson allegedly described himself as a “pervert” in archived messages because he “enjoyed watching transgender pornography.” The messages were written between 2008 and 2012 on “Nude Africa,” a porn site that includes a chat room.

He also expressed support for restoring slavery. “Slavery is not a bad thing. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would restore it (slavery). I would certainly buy a few,” he wrote in October 2010.

In March 2012, under the Obama administration, he wrote: “I prefer Hitler to any piece of shit in Washington right now!”

This led to mass resignations from his campaign team over the weekend (via Politico):

Four senior members of Mark Robinson’s campaign team have resigned from their positions, the campaign announced Sunday, three days after the embattled Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina denied posting years-old salacious messages on a pornographic website.

Robinson’s general consultant and senior adviser Conrad Pogorzelski III, campaign manager Chris Rodriguez, finance director Heather Whillier and deputy campaign manager Jason Rizk all resigned weeks before the election, according to a news release from Robinson’s campaign.

A black Republican who calls himself a Nazi and wants to own slaves while watching transgender pornography is going to make headlines. Robinson denied the allegations, vowing to continue, but the story was dropped hours before the North Carolina deadline for candidates to withdraw. Democrats may be full of odious public policy ideas and have hordes of weirdos behind them, but they know how to win. They probably kept this story under wraps for weeks, maybe months, while dropping an atomic bomb on a state that, if Kamala can take over from Trump, could make for a very stressful election night. It’s no secret that the Harris camp thinks North Carolina is winnable.

During a recent stop in Wilmington, North Carolina, Trump made not to mention Robinson at all. However, given the Home to dozens of military families, Harris’ outrageous claim that there are no combat troops deployed in an active war zone may keep North Carolina from collapsing.

I haven’t panicked yet, but this story wasn’t what we needed right now.