The Republican standard-bearer in the most competitive governor race of the 2024 election is now officially a man who has quoted Adolf Hitler, called LGBT people “filth,” and threatened to use an AR-15 on federal officials.
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson secured the Republican nomination in the state’s governor race Tuesday night. He was projected the winner of the primary by the Associated Press less than an hour after polls closed.
Robinson defeated rivals Dale Folwell and Bill Graham, who were backed by figures in the GOP establishment uneasy with Robinson’s incendiary rhetoric and far-right views.
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Robinson’s primary win was expected. Now, he will face Attorney General Josh Stein (D) in a general election battle that is a top priority for both parties—and one that could have broader implications because of North Carolina’s status as a presidential battleground.
Some Republicans have worried that Robinson’s record is so extreme that he could not only fall short of flipping the governorship but drag down the rest of the GOP ticket in the state, including Donald Trump.
A relative newcomer in politics, Robinson has quickly won many supporters and many detractors thanks to his eagerness to embrace controversy whenever possible. From making Islamophobic jokes to dismissing the Holocaust as “hogwash” in an old Facebook post, Robinson’s record offers seemingly endless opportunities for Democrats to craft attack ads.
“There’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth,” Robinson said at a Baptist church in June 2023. “And yes, I called it filth. And if you don’t like it that I called it filth, come see me and I’ll explain it to you.”
Although Robinson has occasionally tried to clean up some of his comments in recent months—by backtracking or just insisting they weren’t that bad—he recently doubled down on the anti-LGBT sentiment, accusing unnamed teachers of “pushing these perverted agendas, to try to teach our children that they're really not boys or girls” and “shoving this homosexuality garbage down their throats,” according to USA Today.
Robinson’s baggage doesn’t end there.
He has previously been forced to clarify he did not, in fact, call for the assassination of public officials after proclaiming he “got them AR-15s in case the government gets too big for its britches.”
“Because I’m going to fill the backside of those britches with some lead,” he said at another church event in April. “I’m going to say it to you plain: Your boy ain’t going down without swinging.”
Crucially in the context of the GOP primary, Robinson secured Trump’s endorsement. The former president has long been a fan of Robinson, a proponent of his 2020 election conspiracies who privately met with Ginni Thomas and her election denial group months after he took office as lieutenant governor.
Since the 2024 race began, Trump has remained high on Robinson—a Black Republican—recently claiming he was superior to Martin Luther King, Jr.
“This is Martin Luther King on steroids,” Trump said at a rally in Greensboro on Saturday. “I told that to Mark. I said, I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two.”
As one of the swing states likely to decide the presidential election, North Carolina will see a high level of attention and spending from the Biden and Trump campaigns. Biden narrowly lost the state in 2020 by less than two percentage points.
While Democrats have not won a statewide federal race in North Carolina since 2008, their track record in statewide races for governor and attorney general has been strong. Gov. Roy Cooper (D) is term-limited after winning election in 2016 and re-election in 2020. The state has only had a GOP governor for four out of the last 30 years.
