RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina voters choosing a successor to term-limited Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper were deciding Tuesday between an attorney general who would carry on Cooper’s policies and a lieutenant governor whose blunt speaking style and working-class history favored him among hardline conservatives.
Democrat Josh Stein and Republican Mark Robinson were on the ballot with three third-party candidates for the post of chief executive of the ninth-largest state. Democrats have resided at the governor’s mansion for all but four years since 1993, even as the GOP has recently controlled the legislature and appeals courts.
The race between Robinson and Stein was initially billed as one of this year’s most competitive and expensive gubernatorial contests. Early on, Stein and his allies — holding the fundraising advantage — used campaign commercials and social media to remind voters of previous inflammatory comments from Robinson about abortion, women and LGBTQ+ people that they said made him too extreme to lead a swing state.
Then in September, Robinson’s campaign descended into disarray when CNN reported that he made explicit racial and sexual posts on a pornography website’s message board more than a decade ago. Robinson denied writing the messages and sued CNN and a former porn shop employee for defamation in October.
In the days following the CNN report, most of Robinson’s top campaign staff quit, many fellow GOP elected officials and candidates — including presidential nominee Donald Trump — distanced themselves from his campaign and outside money supporting him on the airwaves dried up. The result: Stein spent millions on ads in the final weeks — often emphasizing his rival’s past — while Robinson spent essentially nothing.
But Robinson continued to campaign, speaking at small gatherings with supporters who appeared to appreciate his story of overcoming job layoffs and personal bankruptcy to become a vocal gun-rights advocate and later the state’s first Black lieutenant governor in 2020 — his first bid for elected office. If elected on Tuesday, he would also be the state’s first Black governor.
Stein would become the state’s first Jewish governor if elected. He went to Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, managed John Edwards’ winning 1998 U.S. Senate campaign and worked in the 2000s as Cooper’s consumer protection chief while Cooper was attorney general. He was later elected to the state Senate and as attorney general, though his 2016 and 2020 general election victories were extremely close: fewer than 25,000 votes both times.
While attorney general, Stein promoted his efforts to protect citizens from polluters, predatory student loans and high electric bills. His gubernatorial campaign platform largely followed Cooper’s policy goals, including those to increase public school funding, promote clean energy and stop further abortion restrictions by Republicans. Stein, the son of a prominent civil rights lawyer, also emphasized civil rights in his stump speeches.
Robinson campaigned largely on a platform of boosting rural economies, supporting law enforcement and teachers and substituting basic skills instruction for what he labeled political indoctrination in the public schools.
Hurricane Helene and its catastrophic flooding in the mountains affected the campaign’s final weeks, with both candidates participating in recovery activities and comforting victims. Stein’s position as attorney general meant prominence in storm news conferences and meeting President Joe Biden when he visited the state. Robinson worked for several days with a central North Carolina sheriff collecting relief supplies. He criticized Cooper for state government’s initial response to the storm.
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