Group uses old video to claim Robinson has endorsed candidate in 2024 U.S. House race

A group backing Republican candidate Christian Castelli used a 2022 endorsement video from Mark Robinson to claim that lieutenant governor is backing him in a 2024 U.S. House race.

Posted 6:12 p.m. Jan 25 — Updated 11:09 p.m. Jan 25

Brian Murphy

, WRAL

The Republican primary in North Carolina's 6th Congressional District has some high-profile endorsers.

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is not among them. On Thursday, he disputed a political group’s claim that he was backing a candidate in the Triad-area district.

Former President Donald Trump endorsed Addison McDowell for the Republican nomination. And Club for Growth, a powerful political financier, is backing Bo Hines in the primary. Former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker is also running for the nomination in the safe Republican district, as are Christian Castelli, Mary Ann Contogiannis and Jay Wagner.

Democrat Kathy Manning currently represents the district in Congress, but it has been redrawn to favor Republicans. She is not running for reelection.

Robinson, the front-runner for the GOP nomination for governor, endorsed Christian Castelli in the 2022 general election against Manning. The First Freedoms Foundation PAC, a political action committee, posted that 2022 endorsement video on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, touting it as an "exciting endorsement alert." The video includes a link to Castelli's website and his campaign logo. It has since been deleted.

A screengrab of a social media post by First Freedoms Foundation PAC.

Robinson's campaign issued a statement Thursday denying that he has made an endorsement in the race this year.

"A Washington, DC super PAC is circulating a video falsely claiming to announce an endorsement by Lt. Governor Mark Robinson in North Carolina's Sixth Congressional District Republican primary. This claim is false," Robinson's gubernatorial campaign said in a statement. "The DC super PAC is taking a video from a previous election cycle and wrongly presenting it as an endorsement in this year's race."

The statement said Robinson has not made an endorsement and is seeking potential legal remedies.

In the 2022 video, which is available on Facebook, Robinson said he'd vote for Castelli and he praises his 20 years of military service and his business background.

First Freedoms Foundation's offices are located in Washington, D.C. But donations to the foundation are to be mailed to a Greensboro post office box.

WRAL reached out by email to the foundation, seeking comment about the social media post.

The group says donations will be used to support pro-First Amendment candidates, promote public awareness and hold the current administration accountable.

The 6th Congressional District includes all or parts of Guilford, Forsyth, Davie, Davidson, Rowan and Cabarrus counties.

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