The political world is still shocked by a CNN report that the Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina, current Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, posted racist and explicit messages over a decade ago on a pornography website message board.

Although the Associated Press has not confirmed the contents of the report and Robinson has denied it, the article sparked a last-minute push by some Republicans to persuade Robinson to drop out of the race for governor in the crucial swing state.

Robinson refused to step aside and remained the latest in a long line of populist, unconventional Republican candidates who rose in the former president’s shadow. Donald TrumpHe has attracted so much attention not only because his story is fascinating, but because it could affect Trump’s hopes of returning to the White House in November.

An unconventional politician enters the scene

Robinson, a former furniture factory worker, began his political career when he attended a Greensboro City Council meeting in 2018 and spoke out against the council’s plans to cancel a gun show following a school shooting in Florida. Robinson’s passionate defense of gun rights — “I’m going to come down here to this City Council and raise hell just like those crazies on the left until you listen to the majority of the people in this city,” he said — went viral.

Robinson quit his job as a cabinet maker and began speaking in public, speaking before the National Rifle Association and other conservative groups. He ran for lieutenant governor as a Republican in 2020, winning a statewide post that many politicians spend decades preparing for in their first campaign. Robinson quickly began to establish himself as the first black candidate of a major party for governor in 2024, when Democrat Roy Cooper’s term ends due to term limits.

Robinson also quickly became notorious for stoking conservative culture wars, taking a particularly hard-line stance on sex and gender politics. In a 2019 Facebook post, Robinson, who admitted to paying for his then-girlfriend’s abortion in the 1980s, said abortion in America was about “killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.” In a 2021 Speech in a churchhe used the word “filth” when talking about gays and transgender people.

Robinson’s provocative language caused some Republicans to fear he had little chance of winning the general election in North Carolina, which has a history of rejecting hard-line gubernatorial candidates in favor of moderate Democrats. Most Republican voters did not share that fear and nominated Robinson earlier this year against two rivals widely seen as more electable. Robinson had additional help from Trump, who was nominated in the primary as a candidate for governor. compared Robinson to Martin Luther King, Jr..

CNN report lands in the midst of a weakening election campaign

The campaign did not go as Robinson’s supporters had hoped. Many thought a black man who openly advocated his conservative views could win a right-leaning state where Democrats have long relied on African-American votes. Instead, Robinson consistently trails Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein in the polls. Stein claims Robinson’s rhetoric and hard-line positions make him unsuitable to lead the state.

Republican concerns escalated earlier this week when rumors of a breaking CNN report began to circulate. Even before the report aired Thursday, there were calls for Robinson to resign before the midnight deadline so a new GOP candidate could step in. Robinson refused, releasing a video in advance in which he said, “I can assure you that the things you will see in this story are not the words of Mark Robinson.”

The CNN report uncovered posts Robinson allegedly made on a porn site’s message boards over a decade ago in which he referred to himself as a “black NAZI,” said in 2012 that he preferred Hitler to then-President Barack Obama, called civil rights icon King “worse than a maggot” and said he enjoyed transgender pornography.

CNN said it linked the posts to Robinson by tracing the email address associated with the posts back to the candidate, and identified phrases in the posts that Robinson still uses, as well as references to his personal life, family history and marriage.

That horrified many North Carolina Republicans, but by midnight Robinson’s candidate remained. Ballots were being mailed to overseas voters and military personnel, marking the official start of the election and a point of no return.

What impact does this have on the presidential election campaign?

A state’s gubernatorial election usually has no bearing on which presidential candidate wins the battle for the electoral college vote. North Carolina in particular has shown that its voters are comfortable with divided government. But Democrats hope – and some Republicans fear – that Robinson’s unique situation there could lead to a different outcome this year.

Trump won the state in 2020 by less than one percentage point and Vice President Kamala Harris has its eye on the 16 electoral votes. Even before this week’s CNN report, Democrats were emboldened by Robinson’s troubles there. Now they’re upping the ante – the Harris team launched an ad Friday praising Trump for Robinson, and the Democratic National Committee has bought billboards linking the two candidates.

As a sign that Republicans are nervous, Robinson no longer appear with Trump when he visits the state on Saturday. But the delicate dance could prove complicated in the final stretch of the election campaign in a crucial swing state that Trump is expected to visit frequently.

Still, there’s still a chance that Robinson’s problems won’t affect Trump much at all, other than disrupting his travel schedule.

“I don’t think it will have any impact,” Republican Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina told reporters on Friday. “I think voters are smart enough to distinguish one race from another.”