Democrat North Carolina Lt. Gov. Nominee's 'Racist' Swipe at Mark Robinson Upends Campaign to Replace Him

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has been in the news a lot in recent weeks between the salacious allegations published by CNN, a wave of office/campaign staff resignations, a freak accident during a campaign stop that caused a brief hospital stay, and the Hurricane Helene relief efforts he personally organized after the slow response by the federal government.

Opinions on Robinson vary bigly around these parts, especially after the CNN story - which Robinson denies - first broke.

But one thing most people likely will agree on is that a recent ad put out by the Democrat nominee in the race to replace him was an epic strategic blunder and one that may cost them some much-needed votes on Election Day.

Robinson of course is the Republican nominee for governor, which has left the Lt. Gov.'s office up for grabs this election cycle. The two nominees in that race are Republican Hal Weatherman, who was the chief of staff for former Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, and Democrat Rachel Hunt, a state senator and the daughter of former longtime Gov. Jim Hunt.

Rachel Hunt's latest campaign ad, out this week, ominously (and wrongly) portrays Weatherman as "worse" than Robinson, and includes the predictable attempts at making Weatherman appear to be "extreme" on issues like abortion. But watch what happens at the end of the ad when she reaches into a janitorial closet and grabs a mop, bucket, and some hydrogen peroxide.

"As Lt. Governor, I'll take on extremism in state government. And since I'm moving into Mark Robinson's office, I'll start with a gallon of this," she says as she displays the mop in one hand and the gallon of hydrogen peroxide in the other, smiling.

Watch:

It didn't take long for Weatherman to use the left's own tactics against them:

He wasn't the only one:

Their rules, right?

Not surprisingly, Robinson had a lot to say about it as well:

Jim Hunt must be beyond embarrassed to see this ad playing on North Carolina airwaves.
Imagine how he feels to see his daughter not just slinging mud against her opponent, but outright lying to the people of North Carolina.
Will the news media report that a white liberal just cut an ad claiming she needs bleach to clean up the office of the first black Lt. Governor of this state?
I suspect not.

Hunt's campaign spent a pretty penny on it, too:

While Robinson's Democrat opponent, Attorney General Josh Stein, is well ahead in the governor's race, there hasn't been much in the way of polling in the Lt. Gov. race, with the few out there showing Hunt and Weatherman going back and forth with small leads, as well as name recognition problems.

In any event, in a state known in part for its infamous history of racially tinged ads used by both major parties, it will be interesting to see if this one ultimately hurts Hunt come November. And just for the record, it's not uncommon here to have Governors and Lieutenant Governors of different parties hold office at the same time.

As always, stay tuned.