Authoritarianism in plain sight: North Carolina edition
Civil rights advocates: it is time to pay serious attention to extremist candidate Mark Robinson
Time to prepare for the the 2024 election and start paying serious attention to Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson. But first, a brief word about where I am coming from with my analysis. I am writing as a “political nerd,” for other political nerds, grassroots activists, political leaders, expert consultants, and the like. What I write here is probably not the right message to use to get most voters to turn out in 2024. But I hope to convince you that we need to get on top of that project as soon as possible.
North Carolina is a top 10 state by population (#9). We have more than 10.7 million people, which is more than Michigan or New Jersey. Back in 2008 it seemed like North Carolina was headed on a better path when the state voted to elect President Barack Obama. We were a purple state. Then in 2010, we had a Republican takeover of our state legislature, in a census, map-drawing year, and it’s been a battle since then. Gerrymandering is a huge issue, but that’s not the whole story. The fact that we lost statewide races in 2022 is a huge deal. Gun store owner Ted Budd defeated former NC Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley for US Seante. And we lost Democratic control of the NC Supreme Court. If we can’t win statewide elections, then we have problems that run bigger and deeper than just gerrymandering.
The other state most similar to North Carolina right now is probabably Wisconsin: Republican control of the state legislature, a Democratic Governor holding the line the best he can to protect democracy in the face of structural obstacles, and a state Supreme Court seat up for a vote on April 4th.
Depending on what happens in 2024, North Carolina can hope to stay on par with Wisconsin. We can aspire to be like Michigan or Pennsylvania, some day. Or, we can dread turning into Florida. I don’t want to live in Florida (Desantis-stan) and I don’t think you want to either.
The NC Governor’s race in 2024 is a pivotal race. Right now, our Democratic Governor Roy Cooper is our last backstop to protect our rights. His veto power keeps the Republican-dominated state legislature from going totally nuts. The veto is the counter-balance that gives Democrats negotiating power. Governor Cooper can’t run again, he is limited to two terms. NC Attorney General Josh Stein has announced his intention to run for the Democratic nomination.
And then there is Trump-loving Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson. Last week Robinson gave the “Republican response” to Governor Cooper’s State of the State address. I put that in quotes because it was recorded ahead of time, so it was not really a response. I watched some of it, and seemed like a straight-up biographical puff piece by Robinson, talking about himself. In other words, it sounded exactly like you would expect to hear from a campaign ad. A free “campaign ad” aired statewide as the State of the State response.
The most disturbing aspect of this video was that Robinson did not seem so horrible. If this video was the only thing you knew about Robinson, you might think he is just like a “nice man” you could meet at church. And let’s face it, how many people pay attention to who their Lieutenant Governor is all of the time? Not many. It is a strange position with limited responsibilities, but a powerful megaphone.
In my analysis, Robinson is an extremely dangerous person who is wholly unqualified to be Lieutenant Governor or Governor. If Robinson is Governor, I believe that North Carolina will instantly become as bad as Florida: a failed democracy under the thumb of authoritarian extremists. Here are some things you need to know about Mark Robinson:
Mark Robinson was elected NC Lieutenant Governor on the basis of the fame he got from a video of him speaking in favor of gun rights at the Greensboro City Council. The viral video has over 150 million views. Robinson had never held elected office before becoming Lieutenant Governor in 2020 but this video propelled him into the spotlight and into running for statewide office and winning. (By the way, in NC the Governor and Lieutenant Governor’s races are quite independent. So yes, we have a Democratic Governor and Republican LG and the two positions have little to do with each other when this is the case.)
Robinson continues to be a highly outspoken in favor of gun ownership. He has spoken at NRA forums, appearned in NRA YouTube videos, and has received maxed-out political donations from the NRA.
Robinson has regularly expressed expressed strongly-held views that are misogynist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim.
Robinson has spoken at Trump rallies.
Robinson has appeared in video conversation with extremist Sean Moon, son of OG some-would-call-him-a-cult-leader Sun Myung Moon. This is current extremism: Sean Moon leads “Rod of Iron” ministries and wears a crown made of bullets while holding a golden AR-15 assault rifle. What else do you need to say about this guy?
As LG, Robinson has spent many Sundays giving thunderous speeches in Christian churches across the state. The next thing I am about to say is anecdotal, I don’t have a source to back this up with, but a politically savvy friend has said that if Robinson can peel off something like 10% of the votes of Black men in NC, that could be the difference that propels him to win the Governorship. I believe these church visits are an extremely powerful outreach platform that will win him supporters. Robinson is showing up week after week; month after month, speaking in language that resonates with church audiences. I worry that NC Dems chronically take the Black vote for granted, do not invest in outreach to communities as they should, and only show up when the election is on the near horizon. Parachuting in at the last minute is not going to cut it in 2024.
Despite holding a staunchly anti-reproductive rights position and proposing to eliminate abortion rights in North Carolina, Mark Robinson admitted that his wife had an abortion 30+ years ago, before they were married. He now calls that the wrong decision, but indeed his partner and he were able to exercise their judgment at the time that it mattered most. (Strikingly, Yolanda Robinson is silent throughout the Robinsons’ apology video.) LG Robinson’s public policy views on eliminating abortion are extreme. Last year, Rob Schofeld wrote in NC Policy Watch:
Robinson says abortion – a safe, simple, and age-old medical procedure that is lawful in the overwhelming majority of nations (including throughout the United States for half a century), and that the large majority of the American people believe should remain that way – is murder and should be treated by the law as such.
As he did in a speech last June, Robinson even goes so far as to say that there should be no exceptions for women forcibly impregnated through rape and incest. According to the Robinson, once someone becomes pregnant, “it’s not (her) body anymore.” In other words, it is Robinson’s argument that a microscopic, fertilized egg – with an average size less than the width of a human hair – should take precedence over the life, health, and well-being of the fully-developed human to whom it belongs.
It’s hard to overstate what a frighteningly radical stance this is.
Finally, Robinson recently spoke at CPAC, sharing the platform that headlined Donald Trump and featured all sorts of extreme speakers, including the guy who wants to “eradicate transgenderism.” The state of North Carolina has recently oppressed transgender people with the anti-transgender “bathroom bill,” that was thankfully reversed, after doing a lot of damage to citizens and families. This hateful bill triggered a lot of business boycotts, which was instrumental pressure in getting it repealed. LGBTQ+ rights remain at risk in North Carolina to this day.
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We need to take these facts about the extremism of Mark Robinson and publicize them, in a way that resonates with everyday North Carolinians. We definitely need a strategy for that. Who is taking this on?
We have some good things going for us in North Carolina, including smart, dedicated grassroots activists, and entirely new party leadership in the (wounded for the past 13 years) North Carolina Democratic Party. We need to GET GOING now to do whatever we can to elect a Democratic Governor in 2024, along with supporting other Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. I expect the Biden campaign will make an investment in North Carolina—I sure hope they haven’t given up on us.
I haven’t given up. I see the consequences of losing in 2024, and that makes me want to get to work! Let’s do this!
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