Josh Stein Beats Mark Robinson for NC Governor

Republican Mark Robinson's campaign was plagued by controversy
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 5, 2024 8:11 PM CST
Josh Stein Beats Mark Robinson for NC Governor
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein speaks before Vice President Kamala Harris at Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Aug. 16.   (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein was elected governor on Tuesday, defeating Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and maintaining Democratic leadership of the chief executive's office in a state where Republicans have recently controlled the Legislature and appeals courts, the AP reports. Stein, a Harvard-trained lawyer, former state senator, and the state's chief law enforcement officer since 2017, will succeed fellow Democrat Roy Cooper, who was term-limited from seeking reelection. He will be the state's first Jewish governor. Democrats have held the governor's mansion for all but four years since 1993, even as the GOP has held legislative majorities since 2011.

Stein's campaign dramatically outraised and outspent Robinson, who was seeking to become the state's first Black governor. For months Stein and his allies used television ads and social media to remind voters of previous inflammatory comments that Robinson had made about abortion, women, and LGBTQ+ people that they said made him too extreme to lead a swing state. Robinson's campaign descended into disarray in September when CNN reported that he made explicit racial and sexual posts on a pornography website's message board more than a decade ago. Robinson denied writing the messages and sued CNN and an individual for defamation in October.

(More North Carolina stories.)

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