Top staff in North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s (R) government office will be stepping down next week, multiple outlets reported on Wednesday, increasing the number of aides parting ways with the state’s GOP gubernatorial candidate following CNN’s explosive report published last week.
Robinson’s office chief of staff Brian LiVecchi, policy director Jonathan Harris, director of communications John Wesley Waugh and director of government affairs Nathan Lewis will resign on Oct. 1. LiVecchi confirmed the resignations to The New York Times, and WRAL was the first to report on them.
The development comes as a flurry of Robinson’s campaign staff “have stepped down from their roles” over the weekend following CNN’s bombshell report where the outlet detailed a number of inflammatory comments that Robinson reportedly made on a porn site’s messaging board over a decade ago, including calling himself a “black NAZI.” He has denied writing the posts.
The lieutenant governor said on Tuesday that he had hired Binnall Law Group, a law firm, to investigate the “false smears” in the CNN report. A number of Republicans nationwide have distanced themselves from Robinson following the report, with some arguing that he should dispute the claims or halt his gubernatorial run.
The Republican Governors Association said this week that it did not have future ad reservations that would support Robinson in his contest versus state Attorney General Josh Stein (D).
Robinson, elected to his current post in 2020, said on Wednesday that he spoke with political leaders in The Tar Heel State and that his race against Stein is “about policies, not personalities.”
“Now is not the time for intra-party squabbling and nonsense,” Robinson said Wednesday on X. “We have 41 days to make our case – we can’t do it without all hands on deck. From President Trump to our local community officials, we must vote Republican.”
The Hill reached out to LiVecchi‘s office contact for comment.
