Mark Robinson hires new top staff, touts wife's continued support as he presses ahead with campaign

In the hours after CNN released a bombshell report about lewd, racist and pornographic comments the network tied to North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, Robinson vowed to stay in the race for governor. And in the days since the report, despite considerable turmoil within his campaign and state office, he is doing just that.

In recent days, the Republican nominee has pressed ahead amid staff departures, criticism from fellow Republicans, and sobering poll results.

On Thursday, Robinson named Krishana Polite as his chief of staff in the state office of the lieutenant governor. She replaces Brian LiVecchi, who was in that role and also served as the office’s general counsel before submitting his resignation as part of a wave of departures from the state office.

On the campaign side, political consultant Matt Hurley has been picked to replace Conrad Pogorzelski. Hurley said he had taken over on a call with grassroots Robinson supporters on Thursday, a person who was on the call told WRAL News. Pogorzelski recently resigned as the Robinson campaign's senior advisor, part of a mass exodus of campaign staff in the wake of the CNN report.

Robinson on Tuesday announced that he had hired a Virginia-based law firm to investigate the CNN report. The firm is led by Jesse Binnall, who was one of former President Donald Trump’s lawyers in disputing the results of the 2020 election.

On Thursday, Robinson launched a new video featuring his wife, Yolanda Hill, who sought to share with voters “the Mark Robinson that I know.”

And on Friday, the candidate pressed ahead with an ambitious series of meet-and-greets — even as a damaging storm moved through the state. In a statement to WRAL, Robinson said his campaign is moving full-speed ahead.

“We won’t be bullied by leftist media like CNN and more of the same outrageous lies we’ve seen from Josh Stein and his friends,” Robinson said. “Just like President Trump, my team and I are barnstorming North Carolina, making our case to the voters — who are desperately in need of real solutions to the problems they’re facing.”

On social media, Robinson warned supporters to travel safely.

“Beyond excited to be back on the campaign trail!” Robinson wrote on social media. “If you are on the road to visit us, be safe and drive carefully.” A subsequent post showed pictures of him with voters in a room featuring a lifesize cardboard cutout of Trump and his wife Melania Trump.

Such visits have become more important to the campaign — especially as the Nov. 5 general election nears, and as he faces fallout from the CNN report. The Republican Governors Association has said it has no plans to fund more ads on Robinson’s behalf — notable since it had been thought to be putting more money into advertising than Robinson’s own campaign had.

Robinson had already been ramping up visits this month before the CNN report, which linked Robinson to posts on a website called Nude Africa. The comments praised Adolf Hitler, called for the reinstatement of slavery, and described explicit pornographic preferences. In one post, Robinson called himself “a Black Nazi,” CNN reported. The network tied Robinson to the account with his email address, profile picture and user name that matched ones he used on other sites. The comments were made before Robinson entered public office.

Robinson has denied allegations made in the report, calling them false even before any details became public. He has suggested he was the victim of internet trickery, but gave few details. He has since been under pressure by some Republicans to offer evidence to support his denials. CNN hasn’t responded to WRAL’s requests for comment on the matter.

While no prominent North Carolina Republicans have revoked their endorsements of Robinson, few have publicly come to Robinson’s defense, either. Some Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, have called on Robinson to disprove the allegations in the CNN report.

“If Mr. Robinson doesn’t set forth a case that provides some credibility to a counterargument, then I think that most of us should move on, not be concerned with this race,” Tillis wrote on social media regarding Robinson’s denials so far.

Robinson trailed Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Stein in the polls even before CNN published its report. A Meredith Poll conducted as news of the report spread suggests its allegations are further dampening support for Robinson.

Poll responses collected before the CNN report was published showed Stein leading Robinson by 8 points (50% to 42%). Responses gathered after the report, however, showed a 13-point gap favoring Stein (50% to 37%). Although support for Stein didn’t grow, his lead over Robinson widened.

“It appears that the CNN story peeled Robinson supporters away from him without adding to Stein’s support,” Meredith said in a summary of the results.

Robinson told WRAL Friday that he plans to continue elevating issues that North Carolinians care about, such as immigration, crime, and drug overdoses.

“There is too much at stake,” Robinson said. “We’ve got to take our state and country back from far-left career politicians like Harris and Stein by voting Republican up and down the ballot on Nov. 5.”

And Robinson’s wife is asking voters to give him a chance: A campaign video posted online Thursday night shows Hill publicly supporting her husband and dismissing the reports about his online presence as lies.

“Lord knows you’ve heard a lot about my husband Mark,” she says, pouring herself a cup of coffee as the video shows news coverage before pivoting back to Hill, now sitting down with a Bible.

“Despite growing up in poverty, with an alcoholic father who abused his mother, Mark has been a wonderful husband, father and grandfather,” Hill says. “... He is known sometimes to raise his voice, and raise a ruckus. But it is all because of the passion he has to protect North Carolina.”

Abortion debate

Stein has led every major poll for the last three months, widening his lead as he elevated some of Robinson’s past remarks on abortion and women. Stein’s first ad of the campaign featured nothing but clips of Robinson talking about abortion, including footage from a 2019 Facebook video in which Robinson said: “Abortion in this country is not about protecting the lives of mothers. It’s about killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.”

Robinson has referred to abortion as murder and said he’d support banning the procedure after the 6th week of pregnancy, with some exceptions. That proposal is much stricter than the law Republican legislative leaders enacted last year, which bans most abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy, with exceptions. Last month, Trump referred to Florida’s 6-week abortion ban as “too short,” while later saying he’ll vote in a referendum to keep it in place.

A day after CNN published its report, Vice President Kamala Harris’s gubernatorial campaign launched a television ad featuring clips of Robinson’s abortion statements alongside clips of Trump praising Robinson. The Democratic National Committee also erected billboards that feature images of Trump and Robinson together.

On Friday, the Stein campaign launched a new television ad, again condemning Robinson’s abortion comments.

It features a woman who says she wanted a baby, but had to get an abortion because of medical complications with the pregnancy that threatened her safety. It shows her reacting to Robinson’s comment that women get abortions “because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.”

“What Mark Robinson said is despicable,” the woman says, adding that “Mark Robinson’s extreme abortion ban will absolutely put women at risk.”

Trump endorsed Robinson months ago, calling him Martin Luther King Jr. “on steroids.” They’ve appeared together numerous times in recent years — but now haven’t shared a stage in over a month. Asked Thursday if he would rescind his endorsement in the wake of CNN’s report, Trump said: “I don’t know the situation.”