Man Goes Viral for Pro-Gun Speech — Then Wins GOP Primary Race in North Carolina

A man who went viral after delivering a passionate defense of the Second Amendment in front of the Greensboro, North Carolina City Council has won the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in the state.

Mark Robinson, a former furniture factory worker, captured 32.5 percent of the vote in last Tuesday’s primary, more than doubling second-place finisher Andy Wells and exceeding the 30 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff, The News & Observer reported.

Robinson becomes the first black man to earn the nomination – and only the second African American to win a Republican nomination for any statewide office — and it comes less than two years after he challenged the Greensboro City Council to “stand up for the majority” in a viral speech.

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“What I want to know is when are you all going to start standing up for the majority? And here’s who the majority is. I’m the majority. I’m a law abiding citizen who has never shot anybody,” Robinson said during his extemporaneous speech on April 3, 2018.

https://youtu.be/NIwf3d7hP9g

The speech was posted to social media by Republican North Carolina Rep. Mark Walker and has been viewed more than 4 million times.

“Our message is so much more than the Second Amendment, which is a crucial issue,” he told Fox News on Saturday.

Robinson, who garnered nearly 240,000 votes, bested a crowded field of eight, including a former congresswoman and the state superintendent of schools. He will face the winner of a Democratic primary election for lieutenant governor.

No Democrat in a field of six exceeded the 30 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff.

Robinson is seeking to become the first black Republican to win any major office in North Carolina since Reconstruction and the first black lieutenant governor.

“I believe that we need to purge abortion from our shores for the cause of life the same way that we purged slavery for the cause of liberty,” he told Fox News, adding that there needed to be an end to “indoctrination in our public schooling.”

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Robinson hailed President Donald Trump as having done a “fantastic” job, crediting him with low unemployment among African Americans and women.

“He’s truly proven that conservative principles make life better for average everyday Americans,” he said. “He’s proven that every day that he’s in the White House.”

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Brian Trusdell

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