The Republican Party has confirmed it is pulling financial support for Trump-backed North Carolina gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Robinson’s campaign has been in steep decline since revelations surfaced that he allegedly left racist comments on a porn website’s message board. Following calls from North Carolina Republicans for him to step down and the resignation of several high-ranking staffers \u2013 including his campaign manager and deputy campaign manager \u2013 Robinson has now lost the financial backing of the Republican Governors Association (RGA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RGA spokesperson Courtney Alexander told<\/a> National Review (NR), “We don\u2019t comment on internal strategy or investment decisions, but we can confirm what\u2019s public \u2013 our current media buy in North Carolina expires tomorrow, and no further placements have been made.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The RGA\u2019s spending update follows a\u00a0CNN report<\/a>\u00a0Thursday afternoon connecting Robinsons\u2019s email to comments on a porn-site messaging board, where he allegedly called himself a \u201cblack Nazi\u201d and made other unsavory sexual and race-related comments years before he was elected to statewide office. Robinson has denied the allegations, as\u00a0NR first reported<\/a>\u00a0last Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n The news comes as the Robinson campaign continues to bleed staff. On Sunday, Robinson\u2019s campaign sent out a press release announcing that four employees resigned from his campaign: general consultant Conrad Pogorzelski III, campaign manager Christopher Rodriguez, finance director Heather Whillier, and deputy campaign manager Jason Rizk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI 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,\u201d Robinson said in a press release. \u201cAn announcement of new incoming staff members will be forthcoming from the campaign soon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Four additional staffers not listed in that press release have also resigned, according to Pogorzelski, Robinson\u2019s former general consultant. \u201cThe reports are true that I, along with others from the campaign have left of our own accord,\u201d he said in a text message to\u00a0National Review\u00a0that listed several other staff departures, including deputy finance director Caroline Winchester,\u00a0political director John Kontoulas, political director Jackson Lohrer, and director of operations Patrick Riley.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Even though North Carolina was seen as one of the RGA’s top pickup opportunities this election cycle, public polling had shown that Robinson was trailing Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n