Global Courant
GREENBORO, NC — Former President Donald Trump said Saturday night in North Carolina that he would support Republican Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson for governor in a move that many delegates expect will cement Robinson’s place as a front-runner in a competitive GOP primary and send him to the office of the governor will propel .
In one of his first public appearances since being hit with a landmark indictment this week — the first federal case against a former president — Trump endorsed the equally sharp-spoken Robinson at the state GOP convention in Greensboro.
Trump said he would save his formal endorsement for another time, but told Robinson from the podium, “You can count on it, Mark.” He referred to Robinson as “one of the great stars of the party, one of the great stars of politics.”
The former president, meanwhile, faces 37 felony charges for improperly storing sensitive documents about nuclear capabilities at his Florida estate, enlisting aides to help him conceal documents demanded by investigators and displaying a “plan of attack”. from the Pentagon and a secret map.
But several North Carolina delegates, who greeted the former president and 2024 GOP frontrunner with thunderous applause, dismissed the charge as a bad-faith attack by President Joe Biden’s administration to undermine its strongest competitor.
Many Republican voters expect the indictment, which Trump called “a mockery of justice,” will boost his presidential campaign — and with it Robinson’s.
“In many ways he reminds me of Trump in the sense that he doesn’t throw punches,” said Mia Brydie, a 52-year-old GOP deputy from Greensboro. “I admire him because he is a man who speaks for the people.”
Robinson was elected in 2020 as the state’s first black lieutenant governor in his first run for public office. He would make similar history if he wins the governorship.
Brydie, a black woman, said she thinks Robinson is the best person to represent her and other black and working-class families. Robinson released an autobiography last year in which he spoke of a childhood of poverty and the various financial challenges he faced as an adult.
But some party members have questioned whether the long history of Robinson’s harsh remarks – which some women, Jewish people and members of the LGBTQ+ community have labeled as misogynistic, anti-Semitic and homophobic – could affect the party’s chances of regaining the governorship. winning in a painstaking battle could harm. divided state.
Robinson’s campaign did not immediately respond to emails and phone calls asking for comment on Saturday.
Despite the Republicans’ success in controlling both chambers of the state legislature, the GOP has won the governor’s office only once since 1992 — in 2012. Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, who has held the office since 2017, has a limited term and cannot return to work in 2024.
State Attorney General Josh Stein is the only prominent Democrat in the race to succeed Cooper. His campaign spokeswoman, Kate Frauenfelder, said she expects Trump’s endorsement of Robinson “to cause even more chaos in the already messy Republican primary.”
State Treasurer Dale Folwell, who is running against Robinson in the GOP primary, told The Associated Press by text message during Trump’s speech on Saturday that he never intended to seek or receive the former president’s endorsement.
Trump “doesn’t know me or my track record for governing or explaining conservatism without offending people,” Folwell said.
Charles Norwood, a delegate from Hampstead, said shortly before Trump’s speech on Saturday that he did not know which gubernatorial candidate he would support.
Robinson is “very dynamic,” Norwood said. But he and his wife, Lynn, said they both gravitated toward Folwell, who has impressed them during his time as state treasurer.
“Mark has the enthusiasm, but he may not be familiar with the levers of power,” said Norwood. “He may not work as well in the political system as he does in the emotional system.”
Robinson, Norwood said, is “not as politically developed” as Folwell. But the husband and wife agreed that Trump’s endorsement of Robinson would be enough to influence them “because Trump is going to be president and the governor needs to be on his side,” he said.
Jonathan Bridges, a campaign spokesman for former U.S. Representative Mark Walker, another GOP candidate for governor, said he “fully anticipated” Trump’s endorsement of Robinson, but expects he may not want to proceed with a formal endorsement once he learns more about the lieutenant governor.
Jim Forster, an 81-year-old delegate from Guilford County, drew several parallels between Trump and Robinson, including their hardline conservative stances on abortion and LGBTQ+ rights and their uncensored approach to campaign speeches. Like Trump, Robinson is “strong and aggressive,” he said.
“He would make a lot of mistakes, but also do a lot of good things,” Forster said. “He’s loud, he’s loud, he’s pushy and he’s right — that’s what makes him special.”
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Hannah Schoenbaum serves on the Corps for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists on local newsrooms to report on undercover issues.
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Associated Press writer Gary Robertson contributed from Raleigh.
