Election 2024: Harris makes Mark Robinson the star of her campaign in North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — There’s an unlikely star in it Kamala Harris ‘drive to win North Carolina: Mark Robinson.

That of the state controversial Republican candidate for governorRobinson can be seen this week talking to Harris volunteers and constituents on the phone and at their doors. Democrats wave signs at their press conferences warning of Trump-Robinson extremism. Billboards are circulating in major cities warning that Robinson, who is also the state’s lieutenant governor, is “unhinged.” And Harris is running a new television ad campaign that draws attention Donald Trump’s history of showering Robinson with flowery praise.

No Democrat has carried this southern state since the former president Barak Obama in 2008, whose victory is the only Democratic win at the presidential level here in half a century. But four years ago, Trump held North Carolina by just 1.3 percentage points, and the country is once again emerging as one of the most competitive states in the final weeks before Election Day.

Democrats are betting that the weight of Robinson’s extraordinary baggage can give Harris the edge she needs to make history.

Both parties admit that a Harris victory in North Carolina would make Trump’s path to the presidency dramatically more difficult. The Republican presidential candidate acknowledged the high stakes during a campaign stop on Wednesday.

“We’ve won North Carolina twice, and we’ve got to win it one more time,” Trump told a cheering crowd at a Charlotte-area factory. “If we win North Carolina, we’re going all out.”

Trump has stopped mentioning Robinson

Yet Trump made no mention of Robinson at the event as he introduced several VIPs, his second in-state criticism of his hand-picked candidate for governor in a span of five days.

When asked Thursday whether he would withdraw his support for Robinson, Trump did not answer yes or no.

“I don’t know the situation,” said Trump, who often denies knowledge of colleagues or well-known topics after they become particularly controversial, like the authors of the conservative blueprint “Project 2025.”

The Democrats are not making it so easy for Trump to distance himself from the man he supported, who was given a speaking engagement at the Republican National Convention and described as “one of the great leaders in our country” and “better than Martin Luther King.” .

Nearly every message Harris’ campaign delivered to North Carolina voters this week included Robinson, who has been abandoned by many Republican officials — and his own staff – in response to a CNN report which described explicit racist and sexual messages on a pornographic website. The Republican Governors Association this week stopped running ads on his behalf and the governor of Virginia. Glenn Youngkinwho serves on the RGA’s executive committee, told the National Review on Wednesday that he would no longer support Robinson.

Yet Trump has so far refused to withdraw his endorsement. That’s even as Robinson, a regular at Trump’s recent appearances in North Carolina, has become he-who-must-not-be-named at recent events.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, a North Carolina native, skipped Robinson as he ticked off a list of the state’s top elected officials during a campaign stop in Charlotte earlier this week.

The little one did not go unnoticed. Two spectators shouted Robinson’s name during Whatley’s comments. The GOP chairman didn’t flinch.

Both Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance ignored Robinson during their four combined appearances in North Carolina since Saturday. Vance was only forced to acknowledge his party’s nominee for governor when answering questions from reporters.

“What he did or did not say is ultimately a matter between him and the people of North Carolina,” Vance said of Robinson. “I’ve seen a number of statements, I haven’t seen them all. Some of them are quite dirty, to say the least.”

Republicans are concerned about the consequences of the scandal

Veteran Dallas Woodhouse, a Republican from North Carolina, said Robinson’s potential impact on the election is “concerning,” though he predicted it would have a more serious chilling effect on candidates for Congress and the state House, where Republican Party fights to maintain a position of power. supermajority in both chambers.

Meanwhile, some Democrats close to the Harris campaign fear that the Robinson scandal in the governor’s race may not be enough to swing North Carolina’s 16 electoral votes to the Democratic candidate. The state has been in the party’s sights since Obama won here in 2008, but even Obama could not repeat his success in 2012.

There is a feeling, at least among some Harris insiders, that Georgia may be Harris’ better opportunity in the South.

Still, Democrats point to North Carolina’s large suburban and college-educated population — demographics that are turning away from Trump — in addition to a growing Hispanic population and a strong base of African Americans, who remain core groups in the Democratic coalition.

Harris’ team is hopeful that Robinson’s lingering fallout, and their intense focus on it during the election’s final weeks, will give them a small advantage — if only by convincing some prospective Trump voters not to vote at all to come to the polls. . They also hope to steal some of the 250,000 voters who supported Trump’s Republican rival Nikki Haley during the March primaries.

“What’s new now is that there is more attention on Robinson,” said Dan Kanninen, state director of the Harris campaign. “There’s a greater public recognition that he’s so far outside the mainstream, much like Donald Trump, that I think voters now have an opportunity to connect those dots in a way that could stick at a time when voters pay attention and start making decisions. .”

He called North Carolina “an absolute dead-heat tossup.”

Robinson’s problems are not dampening Republicans’ enthusiasm for Trump

There were signs of concern about Robinson at Charlotte’s Freedom House Church during one of Vance’s appearances this week, though no one said the gubernatorial candidate’s problems would keep them from voting for Trump.

“I can’t say I have confidence in it. It’s close,” Greg Mills, a Republican candidate for the Cabarrus County school board, said of the presidential race.

As a candidate for local office, Mills said he is still “inclined to support Robinson” because the gubernatorial candidate has denied the allegations. “If it’s true, it’s very disturbing,” he said.

However, Mills said he has “no reservations” about supporting Trump.

Not far away, in the crowded church, Kathy Goodman, 74, of Harrisburg, said she is unsure whether she will vote for Robinson this fall. But she emphasized that Trump is “too good” to be burdened by Robinson.

“He should not be held responsible for what Mark Robinson did,” Goodman said. “They are two different individuals.”

In addition to Robinson, Democrats also have a superior ground game with 27 campaign offices across the state, staffed by more than 250 paid field staff and more than 26,000 volunteers — the vast majority of whom joined the campaign after Harris replaced President Joe Biden.

The Trump campaign has allowed outside groups to handle most of the electoral outreach on the ground, while devoting much of its resources to monitoring “voter integrity” once voting begins.

At a volunteer center in Raleigh, Democratic volunteer Nancy Watson, 43, spent her lunch break one day earlier this week making phone calls to would-be Harris supporters. She said she also spends almost every weekend canvassing for the campaign.

Watson is hopeful that the Robinson scandal will ultimately help Harris, but looking back on her recent conversations with voters, she said some people are still not paying close attention.

“You never know what will motivate potential voters,” she said.

Vernon Daughtry, a 66-year-old volunteer who retired from teaching and nursing, was nearby making a phone call.

‘I’m glad he’s still on the ticket. I hope he brings down Trump,” Daughtry said of Robinson. “It’s time for North Carolina to elect a Democratic president. It can be done.”

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Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Chapin, South Carolina, contributed to this report.