Under the Dome: Some supporters are sticking with Robinson, but his staffers aren’t
There’s an old saying that “If you want to run fast you have to run alone.”
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the GOP nominee for North Carolina governor, might be doing just that.
Welcome to the Under the Dome politics newsletter. I’m Stephanie Loder.
Robinson lost several key members of his campaign staff this weekend. They announced their resignations Sunday in a news release after a CNN news report about racist and explicit posts their candidate allegedly made on a pornography website, Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan reports.
Robinson has denied the allegations.
The news release provided the names of those leaving his campaign as senior advisor and general consultant Conrad Pogorzelski, III, campaign manager Chris Rodriguez, deputy campaign manager Jason Rizk and finance director Heather Whillier.
Patrick Riley, Robinson’s director of operations, also resigned, The N&O has learned.
WUNC reported the departures of Robinson’s political directors John Kontoulas and Jackson Lohrer.
It was unclear who else remained on Robinson’s staff. WUNC reported that Robinson still has at least one spokesperson and a bodyguard.
Campaign spokesperson Mike Lonergan confirmed on Sunday that he remained on staff. He declined to talk about anyone else who departed the team and referred to only the names on the news release.
Here are more developments in this fast-moving story:
The National Governors Association may be pulling financial support for Robinson, CNN is reporting.
The chair of the association, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, tells Politico he no longer supports Robinson.
Politico also found more connections between Robinson and the account used to post on the porn website.
Robinson, Trump rally NC support
Robinson appeared Saturday night at Fayetteville Motor Speedway, Avi Bajpai reports. And, while he didn’t talk specifically about the scandal, the embattled Republican alluded to the report as being “garbage” and “trash.”
Robinson supporters in Fayetteville and former President Donald Trump’s rally in Wilmington earlier that day praised the GOP candidate and said the CNN report won’t affect the way they vote.
Donovan Burke, 58, from Supply, denounced the report, saying, “I don’t put a whole lot of stock in it, especially coming from CNN.”
Susan Daniel, 50, of Fayetteville said she supports Robinson for his support of small towns in North Carolina. “Is any of that going to affect my vote?” she continued. “Absolutely not.”
The Rev. Dante Murphy, 54, a Wilmington-area pastor, said Robinson should stay in the race. He said it was important to “separate the policy from the person.”
Robinson says he plans to fight CNN report
Robinson says he plans legal action against CNN over its report according to The Charlotte Observer’s Nora O’Neill.
The GOP candidate for governor said he’ll direct an unspecified legal action against “salacious lies” by the news network.
Can Robinson win?
While Robinson said he still can win, both Republicans and Democrats are questioning whether it makes sense for his campaign to move forward.
On our Under the Dome podcast, Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan and Danielle Battaglia break down the fallout.
Reality Check
Robinson rebuffed online claims that his campaign hired as its acting manager Jack Burkman, a right-wing conspiracy theorist who in 2022 pleaded guilty to telecom fraud in a voter-suppression scheme that targeted Black neighborhoods.
“Online rumors of new hires to our campaign staff are just that - rumors,” Robinson posted on X, formerly Twitter, Monday.
Burkman on Sunday said he had assumed the role in an X post that amassed over 3,000 likes.
Another X user using the name James Miller posted that he’d joined the campaign as senior adviser. The profile picture on that account is an edited photo of former Wall Street Journal video journalist Kenny Wasser, the journalist said on X.
“Years ago, my likeness/photos of me were stolen and used to create james miller, a conservative/alt-right figurehead,” Wasser posted, adding that he’s not serving as senior adviser for Robinson.
Robinson’s spokesperson tweeted that both accounts’ claims about joining the campaign are false.
— Emily Vespa
Voting by mail underway
The state’s first absentee ballots were already sent out to military and overseas voters last week, and more than 100 of them already have been returned, Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections, told reporters on Monday. The mail ballots are set to start going out to other voters today.
A report by Kyle Ingram explains the ballots, initially set to go out Sept. 6, were delayed because of a third-party presidential lawsuit involving Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but voters can still request an absentee ballot until Oct. 29.
Here’s what else the Under the Dome politics team has been working on:
Trump on Saturday appeared in Wilmington hours before Robinson’s event in Fayetteville, according to a report by Avi Bajpai and Mary Helen Moore. Trump did not mention Robinson in his remarks, but praised several other Republicans. Several thousand supporters cheered as Trump told them North Carolina held the key to his winning the presidential race.
Danielle Battaglia reports Trump is already scheduled to be back in the state on Wednesday, this time in Mint Hill.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, the Greensboro gunman arrested Sept. 15 in the failed assassination of Trump, left a note about the failed shooting attempt, Miami Herald’s Jay Weaver and Max Greenwood report. Routh left North Carolina for South Florida, where he lived for a month before being spotted by Secret Service with an assault-style rifle at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club. Florida Magistrate Judge Ryon McCabe ordered Routh detained ahead of trial as he posed a danger to the community and was a flight risk.
Here’s what our colleagues at other media outlets are reporting:
Trump is ahead in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina, a New York Times/Siena College poll showed on Monday. The poll shows Trump besting Harris 50% to 45% in Arizona, 49% to 45% in Georgia and 49% to 47% in North Carolina, according to Reuters.
VOTER GUIDE
In the latest candidate questionnaires from our 2024 Voter Guide, see what candidates for attorney general have to say about the issues, and learn more about their biographies. Candidates for that job who answered our questions:
Check your inbox tomorrow for more questionnaires, and lots more #ncpol news.
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