NC Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson officially launches his campaign for governor

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who has publicly teased a run for the state’s highest office for months and is widely expected to become the instant front runner in the GOP primary, formally launched his gubernatorial campaign Saturday.

“Today, we make it official. I am running for governor of North Carolina,” Robinson said to loud cheers from the crowd of supporters that had begun filling the grounds outside the Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, the venue for the campaign kickoff event, hours earlier.

Robinson, who has quickly become one of the most influential conservative voices in the state, said that voters don’t want a governor who has spent their life “climbing the political ladder,” but one who has “lived through the struggles of everyday North Carolinians.”

“I know what it’s like to grow up poor in a household mired by alcoholism, violence, and I certainly know what it’s like to lose a job from no fault of your own. You desperately need it,” Robinson said. “I know what it’s like to face financial hardship or lose your house, or declare bankruptcy. I know what it’s like to lay awake at night, that gnawing feeling keeps you up wondering how you’re going to pay your bills.”

He spoke about the lessons he learned from his mother, who raised him and his siblings on her own after his abusive father died when Robinson was in the fifth grade. He said he never forgot “how mightily” his mother struggled, and said his election as North Carolina’s first Black lieutenant governor in 2020 “is a testament that anything in our state and nation is possible.”

He said he was running for governor to continue implementing Republican policies that he said had led to the state’s economic success.

Hear what Robinson says about the left, the media and the establishment:

A large group of Republican state legislators, including Senate leader Phil Berger, took to the stage soon after the event began, to express their support for Robinson, and convey the importance of electing a strong conservative to governor.

Rep. Neal Jackson told the crowd that Republicans, who lost supermajorities in the Senate and House in 2018 and only regained them earlier this month after a Democratic lawmaker switched parties, need someone “that will stand up and fight when there needs to be a fight.” Sen. Danny Britt, meanwhile, said that unlike current Gov. Roy Cooper, who vetoed several bills passed by the GOP-controlled legislature, Robinson wouldn’t “serve as a dictator and king.”

In March, Robinson delivered the Republican response to Cooper’s State of the State address. During that speech, Robinson focused on touting the GOP’s economic and education policies. In his remarks Saturday, he said that Republican leadership was responsible for turning around the state’s economic condition and earning it the distinction last year of being named the best state in the country for business.

“We must continue to be a state that encourages business to relocate here,” Robinson said. “But we need to ensure we are not just providing economic incentives to large corporations. We must continue lowering taxes for everyone, not just for the benefit of those on Wall Street, but for the benefit of those on your street.”

One Democrat, Attorney General Josh Stein, has announced

Robinson’s entrance into the race comes more than three months after the presumed Democratic front runner, Attorney General Josh Stein, launched his campaign with an announcement video that took direct aim at Robinson and called him out for his staunch opposition to abortion and his negative comments about the LGBTQ community.

Ahead of his campaign kickoff, the N.C. Democratic Party said it had launched a website to highlight some of Robinson’s most controversial comments, including saying in 2021 that no schools should be teaching children about transgenderism, homosexuality or “any of that filth.”

Watch: Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson talks about his position on abortion:

In a statement, NCDP Chair Anderson Clayton said Robinson was “an extremist who has built a legacy of division by spewing hate toward the LGBTQ community, disrespecting women, putting culture wars ahead of classrooms, and pushing to ban abortion with no exceptions.”

During his speech Saturday, Robinson said he wanted North Carolina to become a “destination for life,” and expressed his support for a “commonsense” abortion law that would ban the procedure after fetal cardiac activity is first detected, which is usually around six weeks into pregnancy.

Robinson’s supporters said they had been eagerly waiting for him to announce his campaign.

Demetria Carter of High Point and Dianne Doughty of Colfax said they were fully behind Robinson and supported his stances on all of the issues, especially his defense of Second Amendment rights.

Carter, a former attorney who unsuccessfully ran for an at-large seat on the Guilford County school board last year, said she didn’t want any schools teaching Critical Race Theory. Republicans in the House passed a bill regulating how schools teach about racism and sexism in March. It hasn’t been taken up in the Senate yet.

“When you hear Mark talk about those issues, you know he’s your guy,” Carter said. “He’s the one you want, because he will take on these leftists head on, and he will tell them exactly how wrong they are.”

Two other Republican candidates

The Republican field is also taking shape, with State Treasurer Dale Folwell who launched his campaign in March, and former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker expected to announce his run for governor next month as well.

Folwell, who served in the N.C. House from 2005 to 2013 and has been serving as treasurer since 2017, told reporters this week that he has a track record of “attacking problems and not attacking people.”

Walker, meanwhile, said in a statement ahead of Robinson’s rally that he was grateful for the encouragement he has been receiving from “friends, colleagues and officials from across the state” to run for governor.

“I appreciate everyone’s support, and I understand their desire to nominate a Republican who can hold up under the scrutiny a candidate for governor will undergo,” Walker said.

Additional coverage:

Mark Robinson’s not the only Republican planning a campaign for NC governor.

See who’s running in 2024 for North Carolina governor and other statewide offices.

A viral moment helped make Mark Robinson, NC factory worker, into a polarizing GOP star.