Thom Tillis presents a binary choice for Mark Robinson following a controversy

He can either accept responsibility for his actions or take immediate legal action against those who reported Robinson’s alleged pornographic forum posts.

“If the reporting on Mark Robinson is a total fabrication by the media, he needs to take immediate legal action,” Tillis said in a post on X.

“If the reporting is true, he owes it to President Trump and every Republican to take responsibility for his actions and put the future of NC and our party before him,” he added.

Tillis is one of two Republican senators from North Carolina and a prominent voice among the state’s Republicans. After a CNN report noted that Robinson, the lieutenant governor of North Carolina, had posted homophobic, anti-Semitic and racist messages on a website called “Naked Africa,” Tillis suggested that Robinson’s race could no longer be won in the same day.

“It’s been a tough day, but we have to stay focused on the races we can win,” Tillis posted on X Thursday, hours after CNN’s report on Robinson broke.

“We need to make sure President Trump wins NC and support outstanding GOP candidates running for key NCGA and judicial races. If Harris takes NC, she takes the White House. We can’t let that happen,” he said.

Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) commented on Robinson’s allegations Thursday, saying, “The allegations are troubling, but we don’t have the facts. So we’re going to wait until the end of the week and put it all together.”

There was already pessimism about whether Robinson would win his race against Democratic candidate Josh Stein, who leads with 49.2 percent to Robinson’s 39.8 percent, according to RealClearPolitics’s poll average.

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That data is before Robinson’s recent scandal, which saw pollster Larry Sabato move the North Carolina gubernatorial race from “Lean D” to “Likely D.”

Robinson could have dropped out of the race on Thursday, but decided to stay. The state GOP released a statement that day endorsing Robinson, also saying, “The left needs this election to be a personality contest, not a policy contest, because if voters are focused on politics, Republicans win on Election Day.”