A struggling Republican candidate is competing in the North Carolina governor’s race

ELLERBE, NC – Addressing more than 100 supporters in front of an ice cream stand shaped like a giant strawberry, a Republican lieutenant from North Carolina. Mark Robinson he beat up his Democratic rival for governor and the media and said he would fight when their race came to an end.

“I am on the battlefield on behalf of the citizens of this state,” he said in a speech Wednesday.

In what was once expected to be one of the tightest no-vote races this year, the candidate who won the endorsement and effusive praise of former President Donald Trump continues to play defense as Election Day approaches. He was severely beaten by his Democratic opponent, state Attorney General Josh Stein, and continues to try to blunt the impact of a CNN report about offensive comments he allegedly made on an online porn site years before he ran for public office.

Answering questions from reporters outside The Berry Patch in Ellerbe, 145 kilometers southwest of Raleigh, Robinson said he still believed in victory.

“People are not concerned about the salacious lies that allegedly happened 15 years ago. They are not interested in Facebook posts from 10 years ago,” Robinson said. “All they care about is how they feed their families, how they keep their businesses open, how they manage to provide their children with an excellent education.”

North Carolina was predicted early on in the governor’s race to watch this fall, a battleground state showdown in which statewide races are typically close and vying for a seat that Democrats have held for all but four of the last 32 years.

In the final days of the campaign, the margin appeared to favor another Democrat to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

Stein has had an edge over Robinson in several polls of North Carolina voters conducted since Labor Day. Campaign finance reports filed this week show Stein’s campaign has taken in huge amounts of money, raising $44.6 million in the three-and-a-half months that ended in mid-October and spending $59.3 million in the same period. Meanwhile, Robinson’s campaign committee raised $4.1 million and spent nearly $10 million. Stein outperformed Robinson by nearly 4 to 1 during the election cycle.

Stein’s financial clout and support from allies helped them persistently remind voters of Robinson’s blunt statements about miscarriagewomen and LGBTQ+ people that they believed it should disqualify him for the position while promoting the attorney general’s achievements.

Robinson’s support came to a head when CNN reported in September that Robinson had made explicit racist and sexual posts on a pornography website’s message board more than a decade ago. Robinson denied writing the messages, which the Associated Press has not independently confirmed, and sued CNN for defamation in October.

The case is ongoing, but the report had immediate consequences. Top Robinson campaign staffers quit. The Republican Governors Association pulled Robinson’s television ad. His campaign no longer includes advertising and is focusing on social media and events in small towns and rural areas such as Ellerbe, where GOP turnout is high.

Trump has not withdrawn his support for Robinson, a man he once described as “Martin Luther King on steroids,” but Robinson no longer appears at Trump rallies. Asked last week during a visit to Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in western North Carolina whether he would urge voters to continue supporting Robinson, Trump replied: “I don’t know the status of the race at this time.”

Robinson said Wednesday that he had spoken to Trump since the CNN report aired and “his message to me was to keep going and keep fighting and win this race.”

Meanwhile, Stein doesn’t assume anything. He reminds supporters that he was re-elected as attorney general in 2020 by less than 13,000 people. votes. He encourages efforts on behalf of him, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and lower-vote races.

“We work hard with our heads down. We’re having a hard time getting to the finish line,” Stein told reporters after meeting with Democratic Party volunteers Tuesday in Smithfield, 48 kilometers southeast of Raleigh. “The idea is to try to talk to as many voters as possible about the clarity of choice between our positive, hopeful and optimistic vision and (Robinson’s) vision that is divisive, evil and hateful.”

Robinson told supporters Wednesday that Stein spent $50 million on ads simply promoting the platform with the slogan “I don’t like Mark Robinson.” Robinson said if elected, he would expand fiscal and education policies passed by other Republicans who control the General Assembly. Stein’s platform largely aligns with Cooper’s policy recommendations on public schools and clean energy, and opposing abortion restrictions and expanding private school vouchers.

The disastrous flood of Helene affected the campaign. As attorney general, Stein spoke at news conferences about the recovery and met with President Joe Biden during his visit. Robinson criticized Cooper for the state’s initial response and worked with the sheriff to deliver relief aid to the mountains.

Robinson, who would be the state’s first black governor, continues to enjoy the support of conservatives – many of whom appreciate his working-class history and career as a vocal gun rights advocate before becoming lieutenant governor. Stein would be the state’s first Jewish governor.

Some top Republican officials, including House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate President Phil Berger, have not publicly cut ties with Robinson. Several statewide GOP candidates also endorse him.

In The Berry Patch, retired school custodian Raymond Moore, 69, of Ellerbe, who was involved in many of Robinson’s events, called Robinson “a good, solid man” and denied the accusations. “Everyone has a past,” Moore said. “I know who he is today.”

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Associated Press writer Amelia Thomson DeVeaux in Washington contributed to this report.