North Carolina's descent into never-ending scandal
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
For more than a decade, North Carolina has been plagued by a stream of jaw-dropping political scandals unrivaled by virtually any other state in the country.
Why it matters: Even in an era of sex scandals, real and imagined ballot fraud and fierce partisan feuds, North Carolinians couldn't script a more outlandish news cycle than the one delivered this week by Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Trump-backed GOP nominee for governor.
Driving the news: A CNN investigation found that Robinson called himself a "black NAZI" on an online porn forum, where he also defended slavery, bragged about "peeping" on women showering, and posted extremely graphic content from 2008 to 2012.
- Even before the new revelations about his online behavior, Robinson had a history of deeply controversial comments — including quoting Adolf Hitler, ridiculing school-shooting survivors and endorsing political violence.
- Democrats view Robinson as so extreme that North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper withdrew from consideration as Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate in part because Robinson would become acting governor each time Cooper left the state.
The big picture: North Carolina's modern streak of political sex scandals began with former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), the 2008 presidential candidate who impregnated his mistress — then tried to cover it up.
- In 2011, Edwards was indicted for allegedly using campaign funds to conceal the affair, but he eventually walked free after a mistrial.
- In 2020, Democrat Cal Cunningham narrowly lost his race for a U.S. Senate seat after admitting to an affair in the final weeks before the election — potentially costing Democrats a larger majority and downsizing President Biden's ambitious agenda.
- In 2022, former Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) lost his primary after infuriating his GOP colleagues by making wild claims about cocaine-fueled orgies and "sexual perversion" in Congress.
Yes, but: It's not just sex scandals that have vaulted North Carolina politicians into the national spotlight over the last few years.
- In 2023, Mark Meadows, a former North Carolina congressman who was Donald Trump's chief of staff, was indicted in Georgia for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election. He also was indicted in Arizona this year.
- In 2020, then-Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) stepped down as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee after the FBI seized his phone as part of an investigation into insider trading. He never faced charges.
- In 2018, the election results for the House seat in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District were thrown out after Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr., a political operative working for Republican Mark Harris, was indicted for absentee ballot fraud.
The intrigue: Dowless died in 2022 before he could go on trial; Harris is now running for Congress again and is favored to win.
Between the lines: The power dynamics at play in North Carolina — a purple state dominated by Republicans because of partisan gerrymandering — have made it prone to political stunners.
- In 2016, Cooper defeated Republican Gov. Pat McCrory by a few thousand votes, prompting McCrory to make baseless claims of election fraud. He eventually conceded, but went on to curtail Cooper's gubernatorial powers on his way out of office.
- In 2023, State Rep. Tricia Cotham switched her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in the middle of the legislative session, as Axios first reported, handing the GOP a veto-proof supermajority in the House. She then cast the deciding vote for the state's 12-week abortion ban.
What to watch: Unlike many of these cases, the bombshell revelations about Robinson have national implications: North Carolina has rocketed into contention to be the most important swing state in the presidential race.
- Trump, who endorsed Robinson for governor and once referred to him as "Martin Luther King on steroids," will hold a rally in North Carolina on Saturday as he hopes to defend a state he won in 2020.
- Despite their close ties and Trump's refusal to withdraw his endorsement, Robinson isn't scheduled to be there.
