Four senior members of Mark Robinson’s campaign staff announced their resignations Sunday, only three days after the Republican candidate for North Carolina governor denied posting explicit messages on a pornographic website for years.
According to a press release statement from Robinson’s campaign, Conrad Pogorzelski III, Robinson’s general consultant and senior adviser, campaign manager Chris Rodriguez, finance director Heather Whillier, and deputy campaign manager Jason Rizk all resigned just weeks before the election.
Despite these resignations, Robinson vowed on Thursday that he intends to stay in the race and he added then in a statement that “polls have “consistently underestimated Republican support” and also that “a large portion of the electorate is still undecided”. The statement clarified that the campaign will soon announce new incoming staff members who will replace those who have exited.
Polls in recent weeks in the wake of the scandal have shown Robinson down more than a dozen points in some cases, ahead of Democrat Josh Stein, state attorney general, for the seat currently held by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper; as a result, Republican Party leaders fear that a defeat is now unavoidable.
Robinson, who has cleared all campaign events since Thursday, is expected to show up in western North Carolina on Monday, according to his agenda. In his statement, Robinson said the campaign “will continue to intensify our efforts throughout the state”.
“I appreciate the efforts of these team members who have made the difficult choice to step away from the campaign, and I wish them well in their future endeavors,” Robinson stated adding that his campaign “will continue to focus on the substantive issues at stake in this election, such as the economy, crime and removing politics out of our classrooms”.
As the campaign continues with all its peculiarities and oddities, the race in North Carolina is shaping up to be one of the most controversial gubernatorial races of this cycle.
