Democrat Stein wins North Carolina governor’s race

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By Joseph Ax

(Reuters) -Democrat Josh Stein won the North Carolina governor’s race on Tuesday, Edison Research projected, defeating Republican Mark Robinson, whose candidacy imploded following a CNN report that he had called himself a “Black Nazi” and made other offensive remarks on a pornographic website.

Robinson, the Southern state’s lieutenant governor, has denied the allegations and filed a defamation lawsuit against CNN.

Robinson was endorsed by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who previously praised him as “Martin Luther King on steroids” but whose campaign distanced itself after the scandal broke in September.

Robinson advocated for bringing back slavery for some people and posted “gratuitously sexual and lewd” posts on the site, CNN reported, comments the Republican has denied making.

Robinson had a history of inflammatory comments even before the CNN report, including referring to homosexuality and transgenderism as “filth” and online posts that questioned the Holocaust. He has defended the “filth” comment and apologized for the “wording” of his antisemitic posts.

Stein, the state’s attorney general, will be the first Jewish governor of North Carolina. He has said he will prioritize helping the western part of the state recover after Hurricane Helene devastated the region in September, and has proposed investing more in public education.

Like his Democratic predecessor, Roy Cooper, who was term-limited, Stein is likely to face a Republican-controlled legislature, limiting his ability to push through policies.

North Carolina is also one of seven battleground states in the closely fought presidential race between Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris. Some Republicans had expressed concern that Robinson’s candidacy could damage Trump’s chances of carrying the state.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; editing by Donna Bryson and Jonathan Oatis)