North Carolina GOP governor nominee Mark Robinson denies making racist and sexually graphic posts on porn forum

• North Carolina Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson reportedly called himself a "black NAZI" and said "slavery is not bad" in years-old comments on an online pornographic forum, CNN reports.
• "Let me reassure you, the things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson," the Republican said in a statement on X.
• Robinson also signaled he would not drop out of the race in battleground North Carolina, where the first absentee ballots are set to be sent out Friday.

North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson called himself a "black NAZI" and said "slavery is not bad" in years-old comments on an online pornographic forum, CNN reported Thursday.

Robinson, the controversial lieutenant governor of the key presidential battleground state, also posted graphic sexual messages in dozens of posts on that forum through an account linked to him, according to CNN's "KFile."

The candidate, who has been praised by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as recently as last month, referred to himself on that forum as a "perv" with an affinity for transgender porn, per CNN.

Reached for comment, Robinson's campaign spokesman Michael Lonergan pointed CNBC to a video in which the Republican denies the report and accuses his Democratic opponent, state Attorney General Josh Stein, of leaking the story to CNN.

"Let me reassure you, the things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson," the candidate said in the straight-to-camera statement shared on X less than an hour before the report published.

Ahead of CNN's bombshell, Robinson was under pressure from staff and members of the Trump campaign to drop out of the race, the Carolina Journal reported,