Kamala Harris is linking Donald Trump to Mark Robinson, the embattled North Carolina GOP gubernatorial nominee, who the former president has said is “better than Martin Luther King.”
Mr. Robinson, the state’s Black lieutenant governor, has rejected calls for him to pull the plug on his campaign following reports that he purportedly posted derogatory slurs and referred to himself as a “Black Nazi” on a pornographic website’s forum.
The new Harris “Both Wrong” ad bounces back and forth between footage of Mr. Trump showering Mr. Robinson with praise and Mr. Robinson voicing his all-out opposition to abortion.
“For me, there’s no compromise on abortion,” Mr. Robinson says in one clip, which is followed by Mr. Trump telling him, “I think you’re better than Martin Luther King.”
The narrator warns that Mr. Trump and Mr. Robinson are “both wrong for North Carolina.”
Mr. Robinson is running against Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein to succeed outgoing Gov. Roy Cooper, a popular Democrat.
Ms. Harris and other Democrats hope the Robinson issue will help energize their supporters and clear the way for her to become the first Dem to carry North Carolina in a presidential election since Barack Obama in 2008.
According to polls, Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump are locked in a dogfight in the state 45 days out from Election Day.
Mr. Robinson established himself as a hard-nosed conservative, especially with his rhetoric on gays and abortion.
Mr. Trump’s endorsement helped shield the lieutenant governor from GOP critics and win the party’s nomination for North Carolina’s top spot.
Problems came when CNN reported Mr. Robinson was active on a Nude African porn site.
“Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few,” he reportedly wrote.
He also reportedly posted on the site’s message board, “I like watching tranny on girl porn!”
Mr. Robinson has denied the report.
“The things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson,” the candidate said Thursday in his X video. “You know my words. You know my character.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.