Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) indicated that he will not vote for North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) for governor and maintained that his focus is on getting former President Trump and state legislators over the finish line in November.
When asked if he will vote for Robinson — who is amid a firestorm after CNN reported that he wrote inflammatory posts regarding race, gender and sexual preferences on a porn website — Tillis declined to say specifically but noted that he will not be campaigning with the embattled gubernatorial candidate.
He also said that he would continue working to help Trump and other downballot candidates in the Tar Heel State.
“That’s immaterial. … I think you know I supported a primary opponent, right?” Tillis told reporters at the Capitol. “I am waiting for Mr. Robinson to make a statement one way or the other. It is either having acknowledged that he did something wrong and he should step away, or acknowledge that CNN didn’t do their work and sue them. Those are the two choices.”
“What I am going to be doing is supporting legislative candidates, supporting judicial candidates and supporting Trump,” Tillis continued. “I won’t be campaigning for Robinson, and how I vote is less relevant than what I am focused on. Trump needing to win, our legislatures needing to be strong, making it clear that North Carolina got turned around in 2011 because Republicans took control, and we need to maintain control of North Carolina once more.”
The North Carolina senator added that he does not believe a poor performance by Robinson would hurt Trump and pointed to Gov. Roy Cooper’s (D) 2020 win coming in spite of Trump and Tillis both winning as well.
“To me, President Trump needs to run his own race,” he said. “And it’d be no more fair to blame Trump for having endorsed somebody before these revelations even occurred than to blame Kamala Harris for saying positive things [about] P. Diddy.”
“This should not be that difficult to disprove,” Tillis said. “Robinson needs to move quickly to disprove it.”
Robinson on Monday threatened legal action against CNN, but has yet to file suit against the network.
According to the report, Robinson made numerous incendiary comments on a porn website more than a decade ago. He referred to himself as a “black NAZI” and said that slavery should be put back into place.
The lieutenant governor has denied the claims and is set to remain on the ballot in November.
