Mark Robinson (American politician)

Mark Keith Robinson (born August 18, 1968) is an American former politician who served as the 35th lieutenant governor of North Carolina from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he was the party's nominee in the 2024 North Carolina gubernatorial election. He is North Carolina's first Black lieutenant governor and was the first Black major party nominee for governor.

Born in Greensboro, Robinson worked in furniture manufacturing for several years before entering politics. He came to prominence in 2018 when a video of him defending gun rights at a Greensboro City Council meeting in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting went viral. Robinson launched his first political campaign in the 2020 North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election and defeated Democratic state representative Yvonne Lewis Holley.

Near the end of his first term, Robinson won the Republican nomination for governor. His campaign was checkered by a history of incendiary and controversial statements, including about abortion, the LGBTQ community, women's rights, civil rights, and antisemitism. Robinson was also linked to extremist comments on an online pornography forum during his campaign. After losing the election to Democratic state attorney general Josh Stein, Robinson announced his retirement from politics.