As the dispute over North Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial candidate sparks political turmoil in a must-win battleground state for Donald Trump, the BBC asked conservatives in the state what they think about the alleged scandal.
They heard the news during a regular meeting of the Johnston County Republican Women’s Committee.
Across North Carolina on Thursday, Republicans and Democrats alike awaited what were purportedly shocking revelations about Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.
According to a CNN report, the furniture maker-turned-politician, who is seeking to become the state’s first black governor, previously called himself a “black Nazi” on a pornography website more than 10 years ago.
Mr Robinson, who describes himself as an evangelical Christian, denounced the report as a “tabloid lie”. The BBC has not independently verified CNN’s claims.
But when the news finally broke, it caused little uproar, at least among this gathering of polite Johnston County ladies.
“If the allegations are true, that’s something he and his wife have to deal with. It’s nothing to do with me. This is a marital issue,” Adele Walker, 52, said.
Soon after, the group discussed plans to donate $200 to his campaign, which is already trailing Democratic candidate and state Attorney General Josh Stein.
“We decided to donate even more money to Mr Robinson,” she said.
The voices of conservative women like Walker are being closely watched in North Carolina and across the country in this election, which is one of the nation’s tightest races heading into the November election.
Trump has previously voiced his enthusiastic support for Robinson, calling him “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
Robinson had been under investigation even before the CNN exposé was published.
Trump came under fire in 2019 when he said “women should be responsible for pulling down their skirts” in a Facebook video about abortion on demand.
In 2021, he said children should not learn about “transgender people, homosexuality and all that filthy stuff” in schools, and later rejected calls for him to apologise.
“I think it’s fair to say at this point that the Robinson campaign is a huge failure,” said Stephen Green, a political scientist at North Carolina State University.
Some Republicans worry that Robinson will be a political liability that will either discourage Republican voters from voting or boost Democratic turnout.
North Carolina remains “staunchly Republican,” Greene said. Barack Obama is the only Democrat to win the state in the past 44 years, but only once, in 2008.
But the state’s urban growth is tipping the political scales in Democrats’ favor, and Democrats are hopeful this year they can turn North Carolina into a Democratic state.
An Emerson College Poll/The Hill poll released Thursday, before CNN’s report on Robinson was released, showed Harris leading Trump by one percentage point.
This is still within the margin of error, meaning the outcome of the race is still uncertain.
Greene said the state is crucial for any Republican White House candidate.
“It will be much harder for Donald Trump to reach 270 votes without North Carolina than it will be for Kamala Harris,” he said, referring to the number of electoral votes needed to win the US presidency.
Republican Scott Lassiter, who is running for state Senate, expressed disappointment that Robinson did not withdraw by Thursday’s state deadline and that another candidate from his party ran in his place.
Lassiter said Robinson was a gift to the Democratic Party and that “at this point, we want every election on the ballot to be about Mark Robinson.”
Robinson, who was once a regular at Trump campaign events in the state, will not attend Trump’s rally in Wilmington on Saturday, according to reports.
But those close to Robinson are backing him.
Guilford County Chairman Chris Meadows, a Republican, said he has known Robinson, who is from the area, for many years.
“Our position is that these are unfounded allegations, accusations,” he said.
“In this age of AI advancements, until he acknowledges it, I find this story completely unreliable.
“CNN has a huge credibility problem, and it’s been going on for years.”
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Greene said that ultimately the presidential election hinges on voter turnout and it’s unclear how Robinson will affect that.
He was already known for his outlandish statements, and people’s minds had probably been made up, he said.
That certainly seemed to be the case in Johnston County.
One Republican voter, who did not want to be named, said he would not vote for Robinson and that “he’s a smooth talker.”
But he has no problem voting for Trump.
“I don’t know what Trump knew about Robinson. The Robinson news has no impact on me,” he said.
Evelyn Costello, 66, who used to vote Republican but hasn’t done so recently, said she supports the Democrats because of their stance on abortion, and Robinson’s comments didn’t help, she said.
“I don’t know about these accusations but I know what he said and when you hear things like that it definitely makes you want to vote,” she told the BBC.
Trump won North Carolina by just 75,000 votes in 2020, so all it takes is a little political damage from Robinson to make a difference.
But for now, North Carolina remains deep purple.
North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher discusses the implications of the race for the White House in his weekly newsletter, US Election Unspun.
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