Democratic state Attorney General Josh Stein will win North Carolina’s gubernatorial race, CNN projects, defeating Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, whose campaign struggled as his history of incendiary remarks became public.
Stein, who is currently serving his second term as attorney general, will become the state’s first Jewish governor. He will replace incumbent Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who is term-limited.
Stein’s victory is a boon to Democrats as they have looked to the governorship to serve as a check on Republicans, who control both chambers of the legislature. The result also comes as little surprise.
Though Democrats predicted a competitive race in the state, Robinson’s history of inflammatory comments ultimately doomed his campaign.
“Tonight, the people of North Carolina resoundingly embraced a vision that’s optimistic, forward-looking and welcoming — a vision that is about creating opportunity for every North Carolinian,” Stein told supporters at his election night party Tuesday in Raleigh.
Robinson said in his concession speech that he was proud of the race he ran and left the door open to pursuing higher office in the future.
“The only disappointment that I have inside of me is the disappointment that you all feel, because I know so many of you wanted so bad to see nothing but victory tonight,” Robinson said. “But remember, victory is pleasing God.”
State and national Republicans distanced themselves from Robinson after a CNN KFile report found that Robinson had made dozens of disturbing posts on a pornography website’s message board more than a decade ago, in which he called himself a “black Nazi” and a “perv,” admitted to watching women undress in a locker room and expressed support for reinstating slavery.
Robinson denied that he made the posts, which were tied to a username CNN was able to identify as Robinson by matching a litany of biographical details and a shared email address between the two. Ahead of and after the story’s release, Robinson rejected calls from Republicans to drop out of the race.
In the months prior to the porn-forum report, Stein led Robinson in polls and fundraising, while blasting him in TV ads over his history of inflammatory comments, particularly denigrating women and opposing abortion access. Robinson also had a long history of making antisemitic comments and targeting LGBTQ community victims of school shootings.
He also failed to gain the endorsement of key Republicans in the state, including former Gov. Pat McCrory and Sen. Thom Tillis, who endorsed one of Robinson’s opponents in the GOP gubernatorial primary.
Stein, meanwhile, ran on his record as state attorney general, specifically his work closing North Carolina’s rape-kit backlog, which had become one of the largest in the country.
In Stein’s stump speech, he warned that the state couldn’t afford “job-killing culture wars,” a reference to his opponent and to 2016 legislation that required transgender people to use the bathroom corresponding with the gender on their birth certificate. The state faced widespread boycotts and protests before it was rolled back in 2017.
Born in Washington, DC, Stein’s family relocated to North Carolina when he was young. His father, Adam Stein, co-founded the state’s first racially integrated law firm. Stein received a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and his law degree from Harvard University.
Republicans hoped that Robinson’s humbler beginnings would help him better relate to working-class voters. The lieutenant governor grew up in poverty, the ninth of 10 kids, and spoke frequently of how his mother raised the family after his father died. He pointed to his time working at factory jobs that laid him off as jobs were sent overseas.
Robinson’s political career began in 2018, when he delivered a viral speech at a Greensboro city council meeting in defense of gun owners’ rights in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting. Two years later, he was elected lieutenant governor.
This story has been updated with the candidates’ remarks Tuesday night.
