GOP's Mark Robinson blames bad fathers for social ills despite own son’s criminal record

Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate for Governor of North Carolina, often talks about the negative impact irresponsible fathers and undisciplined children have on society. Robinson’s own son, however, has been criminally prosecuted.

Robinson’s critiques of fathers are often targeted at the Black community and traffic in harmful racial stereotypes. Robinson, who is Black himself, has earned a reputation for making offensive statements and social media posts.

“Black folks are hypocrites who remain silent while they murder each other in abortion clinics and gang shootouts, but then raise hell when a white cop kills a black criminal,” Robinson wrote on Facebook in 2015. “Feminism has raised a generation of weak minded, jelly backed ‘men’ who refuse to accept their God given responsibility of being the spiritual leaders and provision providers of their households.”

Robinson was even more explicit in a 2017 Facebook post.

“Deadbeat men, the whorish women they breed with, and the undisciplined children they produce are the top three issues (in that order) that cause African American culture to be a dismal failure,” Robinson wrote.

In 2015, Robinson’s adult son, Dayson Robinson, was charged with felony embezzlement in Guilford County, North Carolina. In 2017, Dayson pled guilty to the lesser charge of soliciting to embezzle, which is a misdemeanor.

According to Guilford County District Court records, Dayson has also been charged with multiple driving offenses. He was charged in 2012 with driving with expired registration. He was charged with the same offense in Sept. 2022 and April 2023. He received an additional charge in April 2023 for driving with a revoked license.

Robinson has served as Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina since 2021. He launched his campaign for the state’s open governor seat last year. He will face Attorney General Josh Stein in the general election.

A Robinson spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request to comment for this story.