In North Carolina, a swing state that former President Donald Trump won by only 1 percent in 2020, term-limited centrist Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper may be replaced by a far-right MAGA Republican whose opponents are attacking him as a misogynist, anti-gay Holocaust denier: Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.
Trump has endorsed Robinson, but some Republican strategists fear that the lieutenant governor has given Democrats way too much political ammunition to use against him. Robinson once said, "I absolutely want to go back to the America where women couldn't vote."
In an article published on May 28, The Atlantic's David A. Graham stresses that Robinson's "anti-Semitic, homophobic, and sexist screeds" are pushing MAGA extremism to its limits.
READ MORE: NC GOP gubernatorial candidate 'failed to file income taxes' for 5 years: bankruptcy records
"Robinson's fringe positions have led some to assume that he can't win, but polls indicate that the race is very close," Graham explains. "Robinson could reshape the politics of North Carolina, which has tried, in recent years, to attract newcomers from around the country. He also provides a test of how extreme a MAGA Republican can be and still win office outside deep-red states — of what, if anything, is too extreme in contemporary politics."
Graham notes that Robinson is up against Democratic nominee Josh Stein in the general election after having defeated fellow Republicans Dale Folwell and Bill Graham in the primary.
ConservativeGOP strategist Paul Shumaker, who supported Graham during the primary, argues that Robinson's nomination is bad news for North Carolina Republicans in general in 2024.
Shumaker told The Atlantic, "I see Mark Robinson as a problem for Republicans in North Carolina across the board…. They'll have him destroyed by Labor Day. Then, you start going down-ballot and start making him a liability for people who hitched a wagon to him."
READ MORE:This far-right conspiracy theorist thinks health care is a plot to 'enslave everybody'
Read David A. Graham's full article for The Atlantic at this link (subscription required).