What to know about Mark Robinson, the Republican North Carolina nominee for governor
The race for North Carolina governor is set as the bellwether battle to replace term-limited governor Roy Cooper has its competitors.
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson defeated two other Republican candidates on Super Tuesday, waltzing to a contest against the Democratic nominee, state Attorney General Josh Stein.
Robinson is a supporter of Republican front-runner Donald Trump and is seen as a rising right-wing star.
After his rise to fame in conservative circles, Robinson has made waves for several comments since, including endorsing antisemitic conspiracy theories, mocking school shooting victims and enraging Black voters when he said that “so many freedoms were lost” during the Civil Rights Movement.
Here's what to know about Mark Robinson.
Fervent gun rights defense launches star
Robinson grew up poor as one of 10 children in Greensboro.
He first made a mark in North Carolina politics when his fervent defense of gun rights at a Greensboro City Council meeting went viral in spring 2018.
"The police can barely enforce the law as it is,” Robinson said at the time.
“That’s what I see: We demonize the police, criminalize and vilify the police, and we make the criminals into victims. And we’re talking about restricting guns? How are you going to do that?”
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'Life begins in the womb': Robinson on abortion
Robinson has implied that he would support a total abortion ban, saying there is "no compromise on abortion."
“We need to stand up and declare that life begins in the womb. Life does not begin when Roy Cooper says it begins,” Robinson told a congregation at Winkler’s Grove Baptist Church in Hickory, North Carolina, during his 2020 campaign for lieutenant governor.
The candidate has walked back statements during his time as lieutenant governor: His campaign has said Robinson would support a ban after a fetal heartbeat is detected, often six weeks, with exceptions for “extreme situations” such as rape, incest or danger to the life of the mother.
Before announcing his run for governor, Robinson confirmed after an old Facebook post of his resurfaced that in 1989 he paid for his then-girlfriend and now-wife to have an abortion.
“It was the hardest decision we have ever made. Sadly, we made the wrong one,” Robinson said, appearing beside his wife, Yolanda Hill, in a video posted to social media in March 2022. “It’s because of this experience and our spiritual journey that we are so adamantly pro-life.”
PPP questions follow Robinson
Hill received multiple Paycheck Protection Plan payments during the COVID-19 pandemic through her business, Balanced Nutrition Inc. ? which procures money for day care centers to provide meals to low-income children ? including one in 2021 after Robinson won the lieutenant governorship, according to The Assembly.
The Assembly reported that Hill increased her salary by an amount that mirrored the PPP loan in 2021 and that the loans had been forgiven.
"How do you go around claiming to be Mr. Conservative, or the King of Conservatism, when your family business is solely based on keeping the trains running on the welfare state?” Brant Clifton, editor of the North Carolina-focused conservative website The Daily Haymaker, told The Assembly. “Most conservatives would be horrified to know that.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What to know about Mark Robinson, the Republican N.C. governor nominee
