Trump and Mark Robinson share Project 2025's far-right vision for North Carolina

Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate for Governor of North Carolina, has numerous ties to Project 2025, a far-right policy plan that aims to remake the federal government.

Robinson has served as Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina since 2021. He is running for governor against state Attorney General Josh Stein.

The 2025 Presidential Transition Project, also called Project 2025, was released by the Heritage Foundation in 2022. The 900-page blueprint outlines key initiatives for a potential second Trump presidency. It includes plans to raise the retirement age, ban abortion nationwide, and replace civil servants with MAGA loyalists.

Robinson has embraced several of the policy positions in Project 2025, particularly as it pertains to public schools. The first sentence of Project 2025’s chapter on schools calls for abolishing the Department of Education. Robinson said in a July 10 campaign event that the Department of Education should not exist and he would refuse federal education funding if elected.

“If I had my way about it,” Robinson said, “they’d send the check and I’d say, ‘Oh, no, you can have it. I don’t want your money. Your money comes with too many rotten obligations. We don’t want it.’ Honestly, come on. There should be no federal Department of Education.”

The Department of Education has several functions, including the disbursement of federal loans and Pell Grants for low-income students. More broadly, the department provides federal funds to most K – 12 schools. If the department were eliminated it would result in a loss of resources for many school districts.

Former President Donald Trump also endorsed abolishing the Department of Education.

Robinson stirred controversy in 2021 when he described books in school libraries with LGBTQ themes as “borderline child pornography.” He said such books should be banned. This view is also reflected in Project 2025, which calls for banning similar materials from schools and getting rid of federal civil rights protections for LGBTQ students and teachers.

In July 2023, Robinson appeared at a conference hosted by Moms for Liberty, a far-right group that has backed book bans and sought to limit teacher influence on school curriculums. Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, spoke at the same event. Project 2025 was written and distributed under Roberts’ leadership.

In his speech, Roberts repeated Robinson’s false claim about pornography in public schools.

“A majority of Americans today seldom, or never, attend religious services,” Roberts lamented. “Prayer and the Bible are banned in schools where pornography is permitted.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center identifies Moms for Liberty as a domestic terrorist group. Trump also spoke at the event.

Russell Vought, who was director of the Office of Management and Budget under Trump, wrote several portions of Project 2025, including sections focused on education policy. Vought is the president and founder of the group Citizens for Renewing America. In April 2022, the group held a “Make Education Great Conference” in Charlotte, NC where Robinson was a headlining speaker.

Robinson has backed other Project 2025 proposals, including banning abortion. Robinson has faced accusations of hypocrisy ever since it was revealed that he paid for his wife to have an abortion in 1989.

Trump’s path to the White House will narrow significantly if he loses North Carolina. It is speculated that Robinson’s toxic views and the unpopularity of Project 2025 could contribute to that outcome.

An Emerson College poll from October showed Stein leading Robinson by 15 percentage points. The same poll showed Trump leading Vice President Kamala Harris in the state by one percentage point.