In April 2018, a furniture worker in Greensboro, North Carolina, spoke at a meeting of the City Council to oppose an effort to cancel a gun show and defending the right to bear arms. A video of his four-minute unscripted speech went viral, garnering millions of views and exciting Second Amendment activists across the country. Less than two years later, that factory worker, Mark Robinson, won the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor of North Carolina and went on to become the first African American to hold the office. Now, he’s the GOP nominee for governor of a state with more than 10 million people and a $30 billion budget.
Robinson is a product of the internet age, turning online celebrity into a political career. And his success has made him the vanguard of a new type of Republican candidate, one for whom political and professional success are not assets, but liabilities.
Robinson was singularly unaccomplished before running for office.
There’s no evidence Robinson harbored political ambitions before he made his remarks to the Greensboro City Council. Though he held strong views, he was not active in Republican politics or the gun rights movement. He didn’t even own a gun. But his ability to clearly articulate the views of millions of conservative gun owners led to a new vocation. He quit his job at the furniture factory and hit the conservative speakers’ circuit, headlining events for groups like the National Rifle Association.
Like Donald Trump, Robinson’s fans see him as a fighter, standing up for average citizens against the “woke” agenda of social justice warriors. He’s tapped into the same resentment of people who feel left behind by a rapidly changing economy and society that fueled Trump’s rise to the presidency. As he told the Greensboro City Council, “The law-abiding citizens of this community, and many other communities around this country, we’re the first ones taxed and the last ones considered and the first ones punished when something like this happens.”
Also like Trump, he belittles his opponents with name-calling and questionable accusations. He called members of the LGBT+ community “filth” and said of school shootings, “Don’t you know the reason why it’s happening is because you have purged prayer from the hallways of those schools?”
But unlike Trump, whose real estate empire and reality TV show made him a household name, Robinson was singularly unaccomplished before running for office. Robinson has sought to turn this into a strength: He claims that average North Carolinians identify with his modest background and financial struggles, including several bankruptcies and an eviction.
Certainly, his lack of experience hasn’t been a liability. In the 2020 North Carolina Republican primary for lieutenant governor, Robinson dispatched eight contenders for the nomination, including the state superintendent of public instruction, a state senator and a former member of Congress. In the general election, he defeated a Democratic state legislator. He won the nomination for governor this year by defeating Dale Folwell, the two-term state treasurer who also spent years in the legislature.
Others political beginners have followed Robinson’s example. This year, Republicans candidates with little experience defeated proven leaders in races for Congress and statewide offices. Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt lost her GOP primary to a woman whose only experience is losing a school board race and homeschooling her children.
Historically, North Carolina voters have elected moderate, experienced politicians to helm their state.
At least four current or former legislators lost to first-time candidates in statewide races. Two other legislators lost primaries for newly gerrymandered congressional seats. State House Speaker Tim Moore, who won the GOP primary in the state’s 14th Congressional District, was the only state legislator to win nomination to a higher office.
Robinson offered unelected Republicans a model for breaking into politics. Traditionally, candidates often built a political resume by starting with a local office like county commission, then serving in the legislature and finally attempting a statewide campaign. Robinson showed them that bombastic rhetoric can be more rewarding than practical experience.
This year, Republicans will learn if the Robinson model translates to top-of-the-ticket races. Historically, North Carolina voters have elected moderate, experienced politicians to helm their state. Recent Democratic governors have included two attorneys general and a lieutenant governor who also served as one of the most powerful members of the state Senate. The only Republican governor this century served as mayor of Charlotte, the state’s largest city.








