How North Carolina Republicans Could Replace Their Governor Nominee

A report from CNN on Thursday that detailed disturbing comments that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson supposedly made on a pornography website message board years ago has raised questions about whether he will remain the Republican nominee for governor in North Carolina.

Mr. Robinson’s campaign has insisted that the lieutenant governor will not drop out. Minutes before the CNN article was published, Mr. Robinson denied the report and said in a video posted on X: “We are staying in this race. We are in it to win it.”

The deadline for a candidate to withdraw is Thursday. To withdraw, a candidate must submit a written request to the North Carolina State Board of Elections before midnight on Thursday.

If Mr. Robinson were to drop out, the executive committee of the North Carolina Republican Party would select a replacement candidate. Then the state Board of Elections would determine “whether it is practical to reprint the ballots with the replacement nominee’s name,” according to state law.

Given that the deadline was just hours away after the CNN report was published, it is highly unlikely that the board would choose to reprint the ballots, though the Republican Party could sue to have it do so. It recently won a court case seeking to have the board reprint ballots for absentee voters after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the presidential race.

Should Mr. Robinson leave the race and his name remain on the ballot, all votes cast for him would automatically be considered as votes for whomever the party chooses to replace him.