Mark Robinson is a 'punch in the gut' for Republicans, warns former GOP lawmaker

A scandal surrounding Trump-backed Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson in North Carolina was a “punch in the gut” for Republicans in the Tar Heel State, said former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger.

CNN reported Thursday that Robinson, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump and serves as North Carolina's lieutenant governor, published a series of disturbing posts on a porn website more than a decade ago.

Robinson reportedly called himself a “black Nazi,” said he didn't think slavery was bad, called Muslims “little scoundrels,” and talked about his love of transgender pornography, although he later repeatedly spoke out against transgender people as a politician.

Despite CNN providing extensive evidence that Robinson is clearly connected to the posts, the Republican has refused to drop out of the race for governor, denying he made the comments and calling them “outrageous lies.”

Kinzinger, a Trump critic who is supporting Vice President Kamala Harris this year, said during a CNN broadcast Thursday night that the revelations about Robinson were “devastating” for North Carolina Republicans and could damage the Trump campaign.

“From a campaign perspective, this is devastating,” Kinzinger said. “Of course he's going to lose North Carolina. But the Trump campaign should be very concerned because if there are people who are discouraged by him, they're either not going to show up to vote or maybe they're going to vote for Kamala.”

“That's not good for them in a very close state,” he continued. “It might dampen enthusiasm a little. I mean, that's a punch in the gut for every Republican in North Carolina to hear that. In a race that's going to be this close, any attack on motivation can make a big difference.”

Newsweek reached out to the Trump team via email on Thursday evening for comment.

Opinion polls suggest that the presidential election in North Carolina is going to be a close one. The average of the latest polls from the broadcaster FiveThirtyEight showed Trump leading by a statistically insignificant 0.1 percent on Thursday evening.

Robinson's campaign, however, had problems even before the scandal. The Republican has been trailing Democratic candidate Josh Stein in polls for months, and several polls published in September show him trailing by double digits.

Robinson described the CNN report in a video He stressed on social media that the posts were “not the words of Mark Robinson” and accused Stein of inciting a “high-tech lynching.”

The Republican Party of North Carolina also defended its candidate in a opinion on Thursday, claiming that the posts made on the porn website Nude Africa from 2008 to 2012 were the result of an attempt by “the left” to “smear” him ahead of the current election.

“Mark Robinson has categorically denied CNN's allegations, but that will not stop the left from demonizing him through personal attacks,” the party wrote. “The left can try to smear Mark Robinson all it wants… Republicans will win on November 5.”

Trump, who enthusiastically supported Robinson and previously praised him as “Martin Luther King on steroids,” remained silent on the scandal at the time of publication.

The Trump campaign told NBC News in a statement that the former president was “focused on winning the White House” and called North Carolina “a key part of that plan,” without mentioning Robinson.