Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign on Friday launched a new abortion-focused campaign ad seeking to tie former President Donald Trump to North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, the subject of a report that detailed disturbing posts he allegedly made on a pornographic website calling himself a “black NAZI” and downplaying the negative impact of slavery in the United States.

What You Need To Know

  • Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign on Friday announced it is launching a new abortion-focused campaign ad seeking to tie former President Donald Trump to North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson

  • A report from CNN on Thursday detailed disturbing posts Robinson allegedly made on a pornographic website calling himself a “black NAZI” and downplaying the negative impact of slavery in the United States; Robinson denied the CNN report and vowed to stay in the race for governor

  • The ad follows the bombshell report about Robinson and ahead of Harris’ trip to Georgia, where she is set to deliver remarks focused on abortion rights — after reports this week of two Georgia women who died while seeking reproductive health care

  • Reproductive rights have proven to be an effective motivator for Democrats, helping lead to better-than-expected results in the 2022 midterms, and ballot initiatives aiming to expand abortion access have been successful every time they’ve been up for a vote since Roe v. Wade was overturned, even in deep red states like Kansas and Ohio

The thirty-second ad, entitled “Both Wrong,” juxtaposes Trump’s praise of Robinson with the North Carolina lieutenant governor’s comments in opposition to abortion. For instance, the ad opens by pairing Trump saying Robinson has been “an unbelievable lieutenant governor” and describing him as “better than Martin Luther King” with Robinson saying “there’s no compromise on abortion” and expressing that “Abortion in this country, it's about killing a child because you aren't responsible enough to keep your skirt down.”

Robinson denied the CNN report and vowed to stay in the race for governor.

The ad follows the bombshell report about Robinson and ahead of Harris’ trip to Georgia, where she is set to deliver remarks focused on abortion rights — after reports this week of two Georgia women who died while seeking reproductive health care.

“The split screen today for voters in this election could not be more stark: In Georgia, Vice President Harris will make a forceful and powerful case for reproductive freedom in the light of two women’s preventable deaths under the state’s Trump abortion ban,” Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. "In North Carolina, Donald Trump proudly embraces Mark Robinson and his extremist views on what women can and cannot do with our bodies. Together they would make the harsh reality women face in states like Georgia and North Carolina a nationwide nightmare.”

“Trump can’t run away from the truth: He stands shoulder to shoulder with Robinson and for the extreme abortion bans that are putting women’s lives at risk across the country — and if they have the chance, they will go further and ban abortion across the country,” she charged.

The ad is part of a $370 million digital and television ad buy through Election Day that will air on television across North Carolina during popular shows like “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune,” as well as local programming.

Despite his comments opposing abortion, Robinson said in a campaign advertisement earlier this year that his wife had an abortion decades ago. His critics, like Democratic state Attorney General Josh Stein, Robinson’s opponent in November, dismissed his ad at the time as an attempt to distance himself from his numerous statements opposing the procedure.

Harris on Friday is expected to deliver a speech squarely focused on abortion in an effort to keep the issue front and center in November’s election.

Reproductive rights have proven to be an effective motivator for Democrats, helping lead to better-than-expected results in the 2022 midterms, and ballot initiatives aiming to expand abortion access have been successful every time they’ve been up for a vote since Roe v. Wade was overturned, even in deep red states like Kansas and Ohio.

This year, nearly a dozen states will feature abortion-related ballot initiatives, including Florida, Missouri, New York, Nevada and Arizona.

This week, ProPublica reported on two abortion-related deaths in Georgia after Roe v. Wade was overturned, which were deemed preventable.

According to ProPublica, Amber Nicole Thurman, 28, who had a son who was 6 at the time, developed a rare complication from abortion pills and did not expel all of the fetal tissue from her body. She visited a hospital in need of a routine procedure called a dilation and curettage, or D&C, but doctors waited 20 hours before operating, the report said. In the hours between, Thurman’s infection spread, her blood pressure fell, and her organs began to fail, according to the report.

ProPublica reported Monday that a state medical review committee found the death of Amber Nicole Thurman, 28, to be “preventable.”

On Thursday, at a campaign event hosted by television host Oprah Winfrey, Harris — the Biden administration’s point person on abortion rights — spoke to Thurman’s mother, Shanette Williams.

“Initially, I did not want the public to know my pain, I wanted to go through in silence, but I realized it was selfish,” Williams tearfully told Harris and Winfrey, adding: “Women around the world, people around the world need to know that this was preventable. Two years later … you’re looking at a mother who is broken.”

“I’m just so sorry. The courage you all have shown is extraordinary,” Harris said, adding: “This story is a story that is, sadly, not the only story of what has been happening since these bans have taken place.”

Spectrum News' Ryan Chatelain contributed to this report.