A Republican candidate for governor in North Carolina has insisted he is not going to exit the race amid a report that he made controversial feedback on a porn web site greater than a decade in the past.
Mark Robinson characterised the CNN report, which alleged that he had referred to himself as a “black Nazi” on an grownup discussion board, as “salacious tabloid lies”.
He has been underneath stress from state Republicans and members of Donald Trump’s marketing campaign staff to give up the race, in response to nameless sources quoted by the Carolina Journal newspaper.
Kamala Harris, a Democrat, is hoping to wrest the doubtless pivotal swing state from Trump, a Republican, in November’s White Home election.
Robinson, 56, is a former furnishings producer who was elected to be the state’s first black lieutenant governor in 2020.
He received the gubernatorial nomination in March this 12 months after receiving an endorsement from Trump, who referred to as him “Martin Luther King on steroids”.
Based on the CNN report on Thursday, Robinson used to go to a porn web site from 2008-12 referred to as Nude Africa, with the username “minisoldr”.
“I like watching tranny on lady porn… It takes the person out whereas leaving the person in!” minisoldr commented, in response to CNN.
“And yeah I’m a ‘perv’ too!”
The BBC has not verified the CNN report.
In 2021, Robinson refused to apologise after he was criticised for saying that youngsters in faculties shouldn’t be studying about “transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth”.
In a video posted to X, previously Twitter, on Thursday, because the CNN story was being revealed, he denied wrongdoing.
“Let me reassure you, the issues you will notice in that story, these are usually not the phrases of Mark Robinson,” he stated.
“We’re staying on this race. We’re in it to win it.”
He stated he was the sufferer of a “high-tech lynching” by his white Democratic opponent, Josh Stein.
Opinion polls already recommend Stein, a Harvard-educated lawyer who’s at the moment North Carolina’s legal professional common, has a agency lead within the race.
The deadline for withdrawing from the gubernatorial contest is Thursday night as postal ballots go into the mail on Friday. Early voting within the state begins in lower than a month.
Current polling in North Carolina exhibits Harris and Trump successfully tied amongst probably voters.
The Tar Heel State has been a Republican stronghold, with just one Democratic presidential nominee profitable there within the final 20-plus years.
Trump narrowly beat Joe Biden in North Carolina 4 years in the past by lower than 2%.
Democrats have campaigned closely within the state this election season.
