Since winning the Republican nomination for governor, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has softened his stance on abortion.
A year ago, the firebrand conservative said he would support a total abortion ban with no exceptions, later saying he supported a six-week ban.
This month, Robinson released a campaign ad saying he stands by North Carolina’s current law, which bans abortions after 12 weeks. He also described how this issue was personal after his wife had an abortion in 1989.
"It was this silent pain between us. That we never spoke of," Robinson said in the ad.
"It’s something that stays with me forever," his wife Yolanda added.
"That’s why I stand by our current law, and it provides common-sense exceptions for life of the mother, incest and rape," Robinson said.
This is a significant shift toward the middle for Robinson, who made abortion one of the central issues in his campaign, but now faces an extremely tight race with Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein.
Bryan Anderson is a freelance reporter who wrote about how this policy shift has split some in the Robinson campaign in his "Anderson Alerts" Substack newsletter.
He spoke with WFAE's Nick de la Canal about the campaign's thinking, and how it's playing out among Robinson's supporters.
Nick de la Canal: This is a significant shift toward the middle for Robinson, who had made abortion one of the central issues in his campaign.
Bryan Anderson: Yeah, I mean, he is very passionate about this issue of abortion. If you had to ask people, what are the three things Mark Robinson's known for, abortion is probably at the top of that list. And then gun rights, his personal story.
Initially, Robinson's view had been he personally opposes abortion in all circumstances. He still maintains that that's his personal view. The central thing he's saying is 'I'm not going to govern in the way that aligns with my personal beliefs. I'm gonna be mindful that other people see this differently.
The issue is, for weeks and weeks and months and months, the campaign's position has been heartbeat bills. Six-week abortion ban. That's Robinsons view. And now it's, 'Well, let's make sure that we don't anger people on this issue. And let's say the law is sufficient the way it is. And the decision behind that really comes down to 28-year-old named Conrad Pogorzelski, who's Robinson's closest confidant. And that's a decision that was made to put out this ad that's left strong supporters of Robinson deeply divided.
De la Canal: Is there a divide within the campaign, or was there a divide over this move to the center on this issue?
Anderson: Yeah, there's certainly a divide within Robinson's political orbit of people who say, let's let Robinson be his own person. People who love him, love him, people who hate him, hate him. You're not gonna change people's views on their attitudes towards Robinson. But he's gotten this far in his political life for a reason. So let's just let him be him. There's another camp that says Robinson's gonna get 45% of the vote, Stein's gonna get 45% of the vote. There's one in 10 swayable North Carolinians. And that's who you gotta fight for. And you can't win those people over if your view on abortion is total ban or heartbeat bill.
De la Canal: So what has the reaction been so far from Robinson's supporters?
Anderson: Yeah, I think nobody's really happy with the direction the campaign is going. From the people in Robinson's orbit, supporters of his, political onlookers who I spoke with, the central issue that I have heard from religious conservatives is that, you know, this is the guy who has made abortions central to his campaign, promised to go further on this issue, and now there's some sense of abandonment. Now, is that abandonment to the extent that they're gonna go for Josh Stein? Probably not, but it's certainly a frustration that they have with the direction the campaign is going and there's been public opinion polling in the conservative John Locke Foundation showing Robinson down by 5 points to Stein — outside the margin of error.
And so there's no question that this is going to be a close race. But if the election were held tomorrow, you'd certainly much rather be Josh Stein right now.
Nick de la Canal
That's Bryan Anderson, a freelance journalist. His recent article on Substack is titled Mark Robinson's gubernatorial campaign sees backlash from within. Bryan, thank you.
Bryan Anderson
Thanks for having me.
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