Slag Republican North Carolina Lt. Govt. Mark Robinson – whose gubernatorial bid has been rattled through accusations that he previously posted racist and sexually explicit comments online — was hospitalized with burns Friday, his campaign said.
Mike Lonergan, a campaign spokesman, told CBS News in a statement late Friday night that the 56-year-old Robinson “is currently being treated for burns following an incident at a campaign event in Mt. Airy.”
Lonergan added that Robinson was in “good spirits”, but gave no further details about his condition or the circumstances that led to it.
A source close to the campaign told CBS News that Robinson had been hospitalized.
This follows a bombshell CNN report last week that found Robinson posted inappropriate comments to the message board of a pornographic website between 2008 and 2012, often under the name “Black Nazi.”
Since the report was published on September 19, Robinson has seen several campaign staffers resignincluding his campaign manager, general consultant and senior adviser, finance director and deputy campaign manager. He also appeared to be losing support among the Republican leadership.
Robinson has not attended the two North Carolina rallies Trump has held since the CNN report. And on Thursday, asked by reporters if he would withdraw his endorsement of Robinson, Trump replied: “I don’t know the situation.”
Asked Tuesday if Republicans should end support for Robinson’s campaign, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell replied, “It won’t surprise you to know that I’m glad there’s not a Senate race in North Carolina.”
However, Robinson has so far vowed to stay in the race.
“This is an election about politics, not personalities,” he wrote on social media on Wednesday. “Now is not the time for party bickering and nonsense.”
Kaia Hubbard and
contributed to this report.