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Most of the senior staff members on Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s campaign for North Carolina governor resigned Sunday, dealing a seismic blow to the embattled Republican who has faced widespread criticism after an explosive CNN report that he had made a series of disturbing comments on a pornographic website.

Among the resignations was his top campaign consultant, Conrad Pogorzelski III, who for years had been one of Robinson’s most loyal confidants and who had been the only consultant to take a chance on him during his run for lieutenant governor four years ago.

Pogorzelski confirmed his resignation in a text message Sunday evening, saying he and seven other campaign staffers had resigned on “our own accord.”

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The other resignations included Chris Rodriguez, campaign manager; Heather Whillier, finance director; and Jason Rizk, deputy campaign manager. Two political directors, John Kontoulas and Jackson Lohrer, and the director of operations, Patrick Riley, also resigned.

The eleventh-hour shake-up in the campaign fewer than 50 days before the election will only exacerbate the troubles already plaguing Robinson, the fiery Trump acolyte who has been widely criticized for comments perceived as racist, antisemitic, transphobic and hateful.

CNN reported Thursday that Robinson had written on a porn site years ago that he was a “black NAZI,” that he enjoyed watching transgender pornography and that slavery was not bad. He also recounted on the site how he went “peeping” on women in public gym showers as a teenager. Robinson has denied that he wrote the posts and ignored calls from some fellow Republicans to withdraw from the race.

Robinson said in a statement Sunday that he appreciated the efforts of the staff members “who have made the difficult choice to step away from the campaign, and I wish them well in their future endeavors.”

He added that he was confident the campaign remained “in a strong position to make our case to the voters and win.”

Robinson was not at a Trump rally Saturday in Wilmington, North Carolina, and the former president did not mention his name once. Even some MAGA-faithful voters acknowledged that Robinson could hurt Trump’s chances of winning the battleground state, though most still said they supported him.

Republicans in the state have either ignored bringing up his name or advised Robinson to respond appropriately to the troubling allegations.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., wrote on X that Robinson should sue if the reporting on him was false, but that if the allegations were true, “he owes it to President Trump and every Republican to take accountability for his actions and put the future of NC & our party before himself.”

It was not immediately clear who would manage the campaign now for Robinson, who is down in recent polls by as many as 13 points against his Democratic opponent, Josh Stein, the attorney general of North Carolina.

Robinson said that polls consistently underestimate Republican support in North Carolina, and that he would announce new staff roles “in the coming days.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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