(CNN) – Donald Trump returns this Saturday for a campaign rally to North Carolina, a crucial state where the former president faces a mess in which he played a key role.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, whom Trump has repeatedly compared to Martin Luther King Jr., refused to withdraw from the race before Thursday’s deadline, ignoring calls to do so from the National Association for the Colored People’s Progress (NAACP), the editorial boards of North Carolina newspapers, and some congressional Republicans.
That pressure followed a CNN report detailing his history of inflammatory comments on a pornographic website’s message board. Robinson, the current lieutenant governor of North Carolina, referred to himself as a “black NAZI,” expressed his support for the reinstatement of slavery, made repeated graphic sexual comments, and more.
Trump’s Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, launched a new television ad on Friday linking Trump to Robinson. It was the first time the Democratic campaign team used an ad to connect the former president with a lower-ranking candidate.
The ad does not mention Robinson’s offensive comments on the pornographic message board, but intersperses Trump’s past praise of Robinson with some of the Republican gubernatorial candidate’s anti-abortion comments, including Robinson expressing support for a state ban on abortion without exceptions.
It opens with clips of Trump calling Robinson “an incredible lieutenant governor” and referring to him as “better than Martin Luther King,” along with a video of Robinson saying, “To me, there is no compromise on abortion,” and “We could pass a law that says ‘you can’t have an abortion in North Carolina for any reason.’”
The effort to connect Trump with Robinson, who polls show is trailing Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein in the gubernatorial race, comes as Harris’ campaign charts paths toward 270 Electoral College votes that could include four Sun Belt states: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.
Trump defeated Joe Biden by one point in North Carolina in 2020. But polls have shown a tight race between Harris and Trump this year. The former president’s path back to the White House would become much more difficult without that state’s 16 electoral votes.
In a statement to CNN following KFile’s report on Thursday, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said: “President Trump’s campaign is focused on winning the White House and saving this country. North Carolina is a vital part of that plan. We are confident that if voters compare Trump’s record of a strong economy, low inflation, a secure border and safe streets, to the Biden-Harris failures, President Trump will win the Tar Heel State once again. “We will not take our eyes off the goal.”
The Trump campaign did not invite Robinson to the former president’s rally this Saturday in Wilmington.
However, the lieutenant governor has attended most — if not all — of Trump’s recent events in North Carolina. Last month, Robinson spoke at the former president’s economy-themed rally in Asheville, and Trump brought him on stage in Asheboro.
At a campaign rally in Greensboro in March, Trump recalled listening to Robinson while on his plane and described him as “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
“I think you are better than Martin Luther King. “I think you’re Martin Luther King times two,” Trump said at the time.
Robinson’s history of incendiary comments about the civil rights movement, school shooting victims and the Holocaust, among other things, have long made him a political lightning rod.
But Trump ignored that record and in March endorsed Robinson, who could join a long list of candidates Trump supported after being praised and who won the Republican nomination despite warning signs, only to later lose the general election. That list includes 2022 Arizona gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake, 2022 Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, 2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial contender Doug Mastriano, and more.
“I have a bad trait,” Trump said last month at a rally in Georgia. “I only like people I like.”
Some Republicans appear to recognize that the revelations about Robinson could effectively end their party’s hopes of winning the North Carolina governorship.
And many in the party quickly distanced themselves from Robinson. A previously scheduled fundraiser for Robinson with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, will no longer take place, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The question, however, is whether a poor performance by Robinson would drag down other members of the party ticket in North Carolina, including Trump.
The senator senior state Republican Thom Tillis appeared to acknowledge the political reality of the race, saying on social media that Thursday was “a tough day” and that Republicans “must stay focused on the races we can win,” pointing to the race. presidential, as well as state legislative and judicial elections.
“If Harris wins North Carolina, she wins the White House. “We can’t let that happen,” Tillis said.
On Friday, the senator called on Robinson to take responsibility for his actions “if the report is true.”
“If the report on Mark Robinson is a complete media fabrication, you need to take immediate legal action. If the report is true, he owes it to President Trump and all Republicans to take responsibility for his actions and put the future of North Carolina and our party before himself,” Tillis said on social media.
Conservative commentator Erick Erickson, on his radio show Friday, compared Robinson to Walker, Lake and other Trump-backed candidates who lost.
“Any time you outsource candidate vetting to Donald Trump, it blows up in your face,” Erickson said. “This is now going to force Donald Trump to spend money in a state that he should have secured. That’s the problem.”
CNN’s Alayna Treene, Terence Burlij and Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.
