Why it matters that the GOP’s Mark Robinson won a gubernatorial primary

In recent years, some truly bizarre, fringe figures have excelled in Republican politics, but even in the radicalized GOP, there are some limits. A few years ago, for example, a former member of the American Nazi Party and white supremacist activist ran as a Republican and won a congressional primary in Illinois. There was an immediate and unsubtle stampede among party officials to denounce him.

More recently, the GOP in Missouri took steps to reject one of the party’s gubernatorial candidates after learning of his affiliation with the KKK.

It is, in other words, possible to be too extreme for the Republican Party, even in 2024. Remarkably, however, North Carolina’s lieutenant governor apparently didn’t meet the threshold. NBC News reported overnight:

The outcome was not close: The right-wing lieutenant governor finished with 66% support in a three-way primary, outpacing his next closest Republican rival by more than 47 points. North Carolina has 100 counties, and Robinson won all of them.

Even in an era in which over-the-top crackpots can excel in electoral politics, Robinson stands out as unique. For one thing, he’s shown the kind of overt antisemitism that candidates for major offices tend to avoid — up to and including his doubts about whether the Holocaust occurred.

We could end the conversation here, but to fully appreciate the North Carolinian’s radicalism, we have to keep going. As we discussed earlier in the week, Robinson condemned the LGBTQ community in 2021 as “filth.” About a year later, he boasted about having an AR-15, which he said he intended to use against his own country’s government if it “gets too big for its britches.” He added at the time, “‘Cause I’m gonna fill the backside of them britches with some lead.”

Talking Points Memo also published a lengthy report on the North Carolinian’s rhetorical record, noting his social media content that included “extreme attacks on the LGBT community, immigrants, Jews, and Black people.” A related HuffPost report noted, “Robinson is also a regular proponent of conspiracies claiming the music industry is being run by Satan and the Illuminati. ... [He also] warned on Facebook that the reality-TV shows ‘American Idol,’ ‘Dancing With the Stars’ and ‘Chopped’ are a sign of an impending New World Order.”

A Washington Post report added a few days ago, “There was the time [Robinson] called school shooting survivors ‘media prosti-tots’ for advocating for gun-control policies. The meme mocking a Harvey Weinstein accuser, and the other meme mocking actresses for wearing ‘whore dresses to protest sexual harassment.’ The prediction that rising acceptance of homosexuality would lead to pedophilia and ‘the END of civilization as we know it’; the talk of arresting transgender people for their bathroom choice; the use of antisemitic tropes; the Facebook posts calling Hillary Clinton a ‘heifer’ and Michelle Obama a man.”

Robinson is also running on a platform of banning all abortions without exceptions, election denialism, and climate denialism.

Some in the GOP recognized the fact that Robinson is simply too extreme, including Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who endorsed one of the candidate’s primary rivals: Bill Graham, a former prosecutor.

Graham ended up finishing third — more than 50 points behind the party’s new gubernatorial nominee.

Looking ahead, there’s no shortage of relevant angles to this race. Will Robinson actually become North Carolina’s next governor? Will his absurd candidacy hurt the GOP’s chances in other races in the state?

But in the short term, the question I find myself stuck on is straightforward: Which Republicans — other than Donald Trump —are going to take a firm stand in support of Robinson’s candidacy? Because by any fair measure, his gubernatorial primary victory deserves to be seen as a genuine scandal for the contemporary GOP.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.