How the Harris campaign aims to beat Trump in NC — without mentioning Mark Robinson scandal

21 September 2024

North Carolina's 16 Electoral College votes could help provide the crucial difference in which party crosses the 270-vote threshold this November. And Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign has unveiled a strategy to put the state back in the Democratic column for the first time since 2008.

According to a recent Politico report, the Harris campaign has outlined how to defeat former President Donald Trump by tying him to Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson. Though while Robinson has been having to answer for numerous posts he allegedly made on an adult website — including posts pining for a return of chattel slavery and praising Adolf Hitler — the vice president is instead keeping its attacks focused on policy.

"Trump made Mark Robinson, and he will have to answer for him," Harris campaign advisors Scott Falmlen and L.T. McCrimmon wrote in the memo. They added that they have "reams and reams of footage" of Trump embracing Robinson in the event he officially rescinds his endorsement of the gubernatorial hopeful — something he has not yet done.

Politico reported that out of all the states Trump won in his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden, Harris' campaign has identified the Tar Heel State as a "prime pickup opportunity" given how the ex-president won the state by just over 70,000 total votes four years ago. In that election, Democratic Governor Roy Cooper was elected to a second term, and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham almost defeated incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina).

In the campaign's memo outlining its plans for North Carolina, Harris' team notes that it aims to tie Trump to Robinson by repeatedly mentioning that both men want to ban abortion, repeal the Affordable Care Act and tear down the Department of Education. The memo also noted that the fates of both Trump and Robinson "are tied together" and that they can topple both candidates in one fell swoop with a policy-based plan of attack.

"In the final six weeks of this election, this campaign will continue to highlight Trump and Robinson's mutual support and their shared extreme agenda and rhetoric that is toxic to voters," the memo read. "Trump has done all of our work for us, saying that Robinson is 'one of the hottest politicians in the United States of America' and calling him 'a friend of mine.'"

In order to win over a majority of North Carolinians, the Harris campaign is courting "suburban voters, moderate Republicans and Black voters" particularly "in the Charlotte and Raleigh metro areas."

The fact that the Harris campaign isn't acknowledging the explosive news of Robinson's posts on the Nude Africa website is noteworthy, as the revelations of the scandal caused some Republicans in North Carolina to call for him to drop out of the race. Robinson reiterated both on his social media channels and in a recent CNN interviewing that he was staying in, calling the report "tabloid trash."

Robinson — who is the current lieutenant governor of North Carolina — had no political experience prior to his election in 2020, which he won largely due to securing the former president's endorsement. Trump threw his weight behind Robinson's candidacy for the governorship in March, calling him "Martin Luther King on steroids" and "Martin Luther King times two."

In one Nude Africa post, the account believed to be Robinson's lamented that he couldn't join the Ku Klux Klan given that he was Black. He also called the late civil rights leader a "commie b—d," "worse than a maggot" and a "huckster."

Click here to read Politico's report in full.

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