Top staffers of North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson resign amid ‘black Nazi’ porn message board scandal
RALEIGH, N.C. — Several top staffers in North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s campaig🐠n for governor have quit their posts, marking more fallout from a outlining evidence that he made disturbing posts on a pornography website’s message board more than a decade ago.
The campai🧜gn said in a news release Sunday that senior adviser Conrad Pogorzelski III, campaign manager Chris Rodriguez, the campaign’s finance director and the deputy campaign manager “have stepped down from their roles with the campaign.” Information on new campaign staffers would be forth♍coming soon, the release said.
“I appreciate the efforts of thes🔯e team members who have made the difficult choice to step away from the campaign, and I wish them well in the💜ir future endeavors,” Robinson said in the release.
Pogorze🍨lski, who helped Robinson get elected lieutenant governor in 2020 in his first bid for public office and later became his chief of staff, said separately Sunday that additional staffers also left the campaign — the deputy finance director, two political directors and the director of operations.
Pogorzelski, in a text, 🎐said he “along with others ꦡfrom the campaign have left of our own accord.”
The CNN report Thursday unearthed past posts it said Robinson left on a porn site’s message boards in which he referred to himself as a “black NAZI”; said he enjoyed transgender pornography; said in 2012 he preferred Hitler to then-President Barack Obama; and slammed the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as “worse than a maggot.”
Robinson denied writing the posts and said Thursday he wouldn’t be forced o꧒ut of the race by “salacious tabloid lies.” He avoided directly discussing the controversy during a gubernatorial campaign event Saturday evening at a race track in Fayet𒈔teville. The event happened after former earlier in the day didn’t mention Robinson at a rally about 90 miles (145 kilometers) away in Wilmington.
Before Saturday, Robinson had been a frequent presence at Trump’s North Carolina campaign stops. The Republican presidential nominee has long praised Robinson — who would be No𓃲rth Carolina’s fi𒁏rst black governor if elected — calling him “Martin Luther King on steroids” for his speaking style.
On Sunday, Robinson still expressed optimism that 💟he could win in November over Democratic nominee Josh Stein, the sitting attorney general. Polls have shown Robinson trailing Stein.
But Robins🐠on said polls have “underestimated Republican🦹 support in North Carolina for several cycles,” and with a large portion of the electorate undecided, “I am confident our campaign remains in a strong position to make our case to the voters and win on November 5.”
Robinson has a long history of making inflammatory comments, including suggesting women who sought abortions “weren’t responsible enough to kee♔p your skirt down” and comparing abortion to slavery.
Stein said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Robinson is “utteꩵrly unqualified, unfit to be the governor of North Carolina, and we’re going to do everything in our power to keep that from happening.”
Polls show Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris locked in a close race in Nort💯h Carolina and nationally. Democrats have seized on the opportunity to highlight Trump’s ties to Robinson, with billboards showing the two together and a new ad from Harris’ campaign highlighting the Republican candidates’ ties, as well as Robinson’s support for a statewide abortion ban without exceptions.
On Sunday, US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Robinson deserves a chance to defend himself against the allegations, which Graham described as “unnerving.” He said Robinson is “a political zombie if he does n🍸ot offer a defense to thisﷺ that’s credible,” while arguing the issue wouldn’t hurt Trump.
“If they’re true, he’s unfit to serve for office,” Graham said of Ro⛦binson and the claims in the CNN report. “If they’re not true, he has the best lawsuit in the history of the country for libel.”
