All but a few members of Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s campaign team resigned Sunday, days after a CNN report about racist and sexual comments posted on a pornography forum.
According to a campaign news release, four senior staff members have left the campaign: General Consultant and Senior Advisor Konrad Pogorzelski, who has worked for Robinson since his 2020 run for lieutenant governor, Campaign Manager Chris Rodriguez, Finance Director Heather Willier and Deputy Campaign Manager Jason Ryzk.
But WUNC confirmed other staff members have also resigned, leaving Robinson’s campaign with just three people working for the organization: two campaign spokespeople and a bodyguard. The list of resignations also includes longtime operations director Patrick Riley and political directors John Konturas and Jackson Lawler.
A news release on Sunday said the new staff hires would be announced “in the coming days,” but hiring a new campaign team with less than two months until Election Day will be a challenge for a scandal-roiled campaign.
A lengthy CNN report published Thursday afternoon highlighted comments posted by a user calling himself Mark Robinson on an online pornography forum called “Nude Africa,” which included numerous biographical details and email addresses linked to the now-Republican candidate for governor.
The report includes a long list of sexually explicit and racist comments posted to the site between 2008 and 2012, long before Robinson entered politics as a candidate for lieutenant governor in 2020. Commenters described themselves as “black Nazis,” called for reinstating slavery, said they liked watching transgender porn and described times they spied on women showering in locker rooms.
Robinson has denied writing the posts, but other Republican lawmakers have distanced themselves from the GOP gubernatorial candidate in recent days. President Donald Trump made no mention of Robinson at a rally in Wilmington on Saturday, when Republican attorney general nominee Rep. Dan Bishop addressed the crowd.
In a news release, Robinson thanked his outgoing staff. “I thank my team members for their hard work in making the difficult choice to step away from the campaign and wish them the best in their future endeavors,” Robinson said in a statement. “Republicans have been consistently underrepresented in polls in North Carolina for the past several cycles, and despite increased efforts across the state, a large proportion of voters remain undecided. I am confident our campaign is in a strong position to reach voters and win on November 5th.”
Robinson’s campaign website lists campaign locations scheduled for Monday in Wilkesboro and Boone.
