The North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson’s campaign ad spending appears to have completely collapsed in the wake of the Republican’s mounting scandals and increasingly dire poll numbers.
The lieutenant governor’s apparent shortfall comes despite changes to North Carolina’s campaign finance laws, which would make it easier for national donors to contribute to his campaign without leaving fingerprints on their money.
Robinson faces the state’s Democratic attorney general, Josh Stein, in November. Democratic campaigns in the state have about $15m in advertising space on television reserved in North Carolina between now and election day, according to AdImpact, an election data tracking service.
Republicans, however, have only about $865,000 reserved over the same period. Robinson has spent about $8m on ads since the start of the general election. As of today, he has about $64,000 in reserved advertising commitments for the rest of the campaign, according to AdImpact.
Republicans are “being outspent in many races, but the future reservations are fickle and can change at any moment”, said John Link, vice-president of data for AdImpact. But he also described ad spending by Democrats this cycle in North Carolina as “insane” and record-breaking.
Since 17 August, advertisers have spent $7m in North Carolina supporting Democrats, compared with $4.7m supporting Republicans.
Through the end of June, Stein’s campaign raised $32.9m and had $15.9m in the bank. Robinson’s campaign raised $15.8m – a record for a Republican candidate – with $6.6m remaining.
In June, North Carolina’s Republican-dominated legislature enacted changes to the state’s campaign finance laws, permitting federal Pac and political organizations to contribute to North Carolina candidates and political committees without registering or reporting as a state Pac. It essentially allows donors from around the country to give money to North Carolina candidates through state committees without disclosure.
That move was seen as benefiting Robinson, whose sharp rhetoric has drawn peals of outrage over the course of his public career. Robinson’s commentary attacking the LGBTQ+ community, women and even other Black people pitched him as a provocateur even before an appearance in June at a Bladen county church, where he said “some folks need killing” in a speech describing political opponents as “communists” and “evil”.
The Robinson campaign insists he was referring to America’s opponents in the second world war and called for all politicians to reject violence.
Two weeks later, a gunman tried to kill Donald Trump, throwing Robinson’s rhetoric into sharp relief.
Robinson has consistently polled behind Stein in an otherwise right-leaning state. Over the last six weeks, most polls show Stein with a lead of four to 10 points over Robinson. The Republican firebrand has had to face questions about mismanagement of his campaign finances and of his wife’s non-profit.
A three-and-a-half-year-long investigation into Robinson’s campaign spending preceding his election as lieutenant governor is still ongoing after an initial complaint by Bob Hall, campaign finance watchdog and former editor of Democracy NC. Most recently, the owner of a kayaking store told reporters that thousands of dollars in campaign purchases claimed by the Robinson campaign four years ago never happened.
Meanwhile, the North Carolina department of health and human services ordered Balanced Nutrition Inc, a non-profit led by Robinson’s wife, to repay more than $132,000 in federal funding last week. The order comes after a months-long investigation – one that Robinson has described as politically motivated – that revealed “serious deficiencies” by the food aid non-profit, describing it has having improperly billed the federal government and having excessive administrative costs and inadequate documentation.
Robinson’s general election campaign has generally avoided engaging with the mainstream media – requests for comment for this piece went unreturned – relying instead on intermittent outreach to conservative radio hosts and conservative social media platforms. In recent days, Robinson has stepped out, trying to rebrand himself. He has a dozen public events scheduled over the next few weeks, a far cry from his largely empty calendar over the last few months.
But Robinson is competing against saturation advertising by the Stein campaign composed of Robinson’s own voice.
