North Carolina Governor Race Jolted by Report That G.O.P. Nominee Called Himself a ‘Black Nazi’

North Carolina Governor Race Jolted by Report That G.O.P. Nominee Called Himself a ‘Black Nazi’

Mr. Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina, vowed to stay in the race and sought to deny the report, which also said he had defended slavery in online posts years ago.

• Share full article

By Shane GoldmacherMaggie HabermanJonathan Swan and Nicholas Nehamas

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina, the Republican nominee for governor of the battleground state with a long history of inflammatory and offensive remarks, on Thursday vowed to stay in the race as CNN reported that he had once called himself a “black NAZI!” and defended slavery on a pornographic forum.

In an 82-second video released before the CNN article had published, Mr. Robinson sought to undercut the report, which unearthed old comments that he had reportedly made on “Nude Africa,” a pornographic site with a message board.

Mr. Robinson, a social conservative who has been a strident opponent of transgender rights, also posted about how he enjoyed watching transgender pornography, according to CNN, describing himself as a “perv” who liked “tranny on girl porn.”

In his Thursday video, Mr. Robinson said: “Let me reassure you. The things that you will see in that story — those are not the words of Mark Robinson.” Later on Thursday, the North Carolina Republican Party defended Mr. Robinson. In a social media post, the party said, “Mark Robinson has categorically denied the allegations made by CNN but that won’t stop the Left from trying to demonize him via personal attacks.”

CNN said it had chosen to publish only some of Mr. Robinson’s messages, many of which were sexually explicit and graphic in nature. He made the comments between 2008 and 2012, according to the report.

To verify that Mr. Robinson was the poster behind the comments, CNN identified the username “minisoldr” as one Mr. Robinson used frequently online. In addition to matching biographical details, the report said, Mr. Robinson had listed his full name on the Nude Africa site along with an email address that he had used on various websites “for decades.”

The New York Times was not able to immediately independently verify the posts.

The fallout from Mr. Robinson’s old online comments and his decision to stay in the race could affect the presidential contest, as well.

Former President Donald J. Trump endorsed Mr. Robinson at a rally in North Carolina in March, saying he was “Martin Luther King on steroids.” A person with direct knowledge of the discussions, who was not authorized to describe them publicly, said some people had warned Mr. Trump in 2023 against supporting him because the bare minimum of opposition research on him had already turned up controversial statements.

On Thursday, the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris was quick to highlight the ties between them, circulating clips of Mr. Trump praising Mr. Robinson along with pictures of the two men posing together.

Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokeswoman, issued a statement on Thursday that did not address Mr. Robinson directly. Instead, she said that Mr. Trump would win the White House and called North Carolina a “vital part of that plan.”

“We will not take our eye off the ball,” she said.

In his video in advance of the report, Mr. Robinson accused without evidence his Democratic rival, Attorney General Josh Stein, of being responsible for it. He vowed he would not exit the contest, which is one of the nation’s most competitive races for governor this year and is unfolding in a key presidential battleground.

“We are staying in this race,” Mr. Robinson said. “We are in it to win it.”

Mr. Stein’s campaign said in a statement that “North Carolinians already know Mark Robinson is completely unfit to be governor. Josh remains focused on winning this campaign so that together we can build a safer, stronger North Carolina for everyone.”

National Republicans have already spent more than $12 million on television ads supporting Mr. Robinson in his race this year, according to data from AdImpact, the ad-tracking firm, with the Republican Governors Association providing much of the funding.

A spokeswoman for the R.G.A. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

North Carolina is a state that both Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris are contesting as part of their path to 270 electoral votes. The state was the closest one in the nation that Mr. Trump won four years ago, and Ms. Harris’s team in particular has believed it can make inroads, partly because Mr. Robinson had already attracted so much negative attention.

Mr. Trump is scheduled to visit North Carolina on Saturday.

Since the beginning of his campaign, Mr. Robinson has faced scrutiny for a string of inflammatory statements and social media posts, including one that quoted a statement attributed to Adolf Hitler. He has also called the survivors of the Parkland school shooting who have been vocal in supporting gun control measures “spoiled, angry, know-it-all children.”

Mr. Robinson had long been seen as a risky standard-bearer for governor in Republican political circles but he still easily won his party’s nomination. Mr. Trump’s ties to the state were deepened earlier this year when the former president tapped Michael Whatley, then the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, to serve as the chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Mr. Whatley and Mr. Robinson spoke briefly by phone on Thursday before the story broke. The chairman was not yet aware of the specifics in the piece and did not ask Mr. Robinson to step aside, said one person with knowledge of the conversation, who was not authorized to discuss the private call publicly. Mr. Robinson told Mr. Whatley that the coming report was false, the person said.

People close to Mr. Trump had been prepared for a story on Mr. Robinson coming this week, according to a person with direct knowledge of the conversations, amid long-term concerns among establishment Republicans in the state that more damaging information would emerge.

Mr. Trump had declined to have Mr. Robinson attend at least one recent event the former president held in the state. His campaign was also preparing to distance itself further from Mr. Robinson, but did not plan to call on him to drop out, the person with direct knowledge said.

Mr. Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, held a campaign rally on Wednesday in Raleigh, N.C., accompanied by a number of House candidates, Tim Moore, the State House speaker, and Hal Weatherman, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor. Mr. Robinson himself was absent, and Mr. Vance made no mention of him during the rally.

Some close to Mr. Trump’s team had hoped that Mr. Robinson would decide to leave the race, so reporters would stop covering his controversies and put an end to negative headlines that could damage Mr. Trump in the key battleground state.

Despite Mr. Trump now planning to distance himself, he has long praised Mr. Robinson, hosting a fund-raiser for him at his home in Palm Beach, Fla., last year and appearing alongside him at rallies.

“He’s an outstanding person. I’ve gotten to know him so well and fairly quickly,” Mr. Trump said at the fund-raiser, adding that Mr. Robinson was a “star” and needed to be cherished “like a fine wine.”

Mr. Robinson was also invited to speak at the Republican National Convention, the party’s most important platform.

In his video on Thursday, Mr. Robinson invoked comments made by the Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who is also Black, during his contentious confirmation fight three decades ago.

“Clarence Thomas famously once said he was the victim of a high-tech lynching,” Mr. Robinson said. “Well, it looks like Mark Robinson is, too.”

According to the CNN report, Mr. Robinson was responsible for dozens of disturbing comments on the Nude Africa site, including a message where he recounted how, as a 14-year-old, he went “peeping” on women in public gym showers. He described fantasizing about the memory as an adult.

Mr. Robinson also wrote approvingly of a return of the days of slavery.

“Slavery is not bad,” he wrote. “Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few.”

In another message on the forum, dated to 2012, he said that he preferred Hitler to then-President Barack Obama. “I’d take Hitler over any of the [expletive] that’s in Washington right now!” he wrote.

He also used slurs against Jewish, Black, Muslim and gay people, CNN reported.

In his video, Mr. Robinson tried to dismiss the reporting as “salacious tabloid trash.”

Even if Mr. Robinson did decide to leave the race, it’s not certain that he could avoid being on the ballot this close to November.

North Carolina law states that “the rules shall provide for the reprinting, where practical, of official ballots as a result of replacement candidates.” Overseas and military ballots from North Carolina are set to go out on Friday, and all of those ballots have already been printed.

Recreating ballots with a new name would be costly and make meeting overseas ballot deadlines extremely difficult. A spokesman for the North Carolina Board of Elections said the deadline to withdraw is before overseas military ballots are transmitted, which is Friday.

Rebecca Davis O’Brien, Nick Corasaniti and Chris Cameron contributed reporting.