NC-GOV GOP Primary Grows to Six Candidates as Republicans Worry About Robinson’s Baggage

NC-GOV GOP Primary Grows to Six Candidates as Republicans Worry About Robinson’s Baggage

Newest extreme addition to crowded GOP field brings 0-1 record to the race after he “finished a distant third” in 2008 gubernatorial primary

With failed gubernatorial candidate Bill Graham’s entrance into the North Carolina governor’s race, there are now half a dozen GOP candidates in the increasingly messy, crowded and expensive Republican primary.

Graham, who ran in the primary for governor in the 2008 election but “finished a distant third,” is the latest candidate to jump in the race as top North Carolina Republicans worry that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s “baggage” — including his  dangerous rhetoric, embrace of fringe conspiracy theories, and antisemitic fearmongering (for which he has refused to apologize) — will hurt them at the ballot box next November.

 Graham joins Robinson, State Treasurer Dale Folwell, former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, former state Sen. Andy Wells and retired health care executive Jesse Thomas in what is expected to be a bruising battle for the Republican nomination.

“As Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson continues to spew dangerous rhetoric and push antisemitic conspiracies, North Carolina’s GOP gubernatorial primary grows to six, as yet another out of touch candidate looks to capitalize on concerns about their frontrunner’s toxic record,” said DGA National Press Secretary Devon Cruz. “The only thing that’s certain about this growing brawl is that whichever deeply flawed candidate limps out of the primary next spring will be forced to answer for an extreme and deeply unpopular agenda to drag the state backward and attack fundamental freedoms.”

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