With a 2024 gubernatorial announcement by Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R-NC) expected on Saturday, Republican campaign consultants are fretting about a repeat of the 2022 midterm fiasco that saw Donald Trump-endorsed candidates crash and burn while seeking electable seats.
North Carolina's popular Gov. Roy Cooper (D) will be stepping aside and his seat seems ripe for the picking for Republicans. Robinson, once he announces, will likley become the top choice of GOP voters in the primary but there are serious doubts about his viability in the general election.
According to a report from Politico, Robinson's history of inflammatory statements are not conducive to roping in independent voters in what could be a close election that will include a possible Biden/Trump rematch.
As Politico's Zach Montellaro and Natalie Allison wrote, Robinson will "saddle the GOP with a laundry list of his past public controversies — from agreeing with antisemitic remarks about the global economy to homophobic musings that children shouldn’t learn about 'homosexuality or any of that filth.'"
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Their report adds, "In a state where surveys show a majority of voters favor keeping abortion legal, he has compared the procedure to murder. And even some Republicans in North Carolina see him as a liability."
One GOP campaign consultant is worried that Robinson's candidacy will have an impact beyond the state's borders.
“Because of his comments, he will nationalize the gubernatorial race in North Carolina for the Democrats, which will open the door for them in raising tens of millions of dollars across the country,” North Carolina Republican campaign consultant Paul Shumaker lamented.
According to the report, "The opportunity for Republicans in North Carolina is enormous. Democrats haven’t won a presidential or U.S. Senate race there since 2008. And with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper leaving office — a candidate who won twice as Donald Trump took the state in both 2016 and 2020 — Tarheel Democrats are staring down an election without their best candidate in a generation."
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