Vernon Robinson - 2004 Congressional Race

2004 Congressional Race

Vernon Robinson was a candidate in the 2004 primary for the Republican nomination for North Carolina's 5th congressional district. He placed first in the July 20 primary before losing a runoff in August; the seat was being vacated by Richard Burr.

During the campaign, the Winston-Salem Journal, in an editorial criticizing Robinson, declared: "Jesse Helms is back! And this time, he's black." The Journal was attempting to chastise Robinson by comparing him to the very conservative ex-U.S. Senator, Jesse Helms. This editorial actually encouraged conservative support to rally around Robinson. Moreover, Robinson's campaign adopted the quote as a campaign slogan.

His 2004 campaign highlighted several issues, especially illegal immigration. In fact, his campaign really began a year earlier when he was the keynote speaker at an anti-illegal-alien rally in front of the Mexican consulate in Raleigh. His campaign, once underway, included one radio advertisement that was temporarily removed from radio stations due to concerns regarding Federal Election Commission and Federal Communications Commission regulations. The advertisement ended with a message in Spanish which translates to "Yo, gringo! This episode of 'The Twilight Zone' was paid for by Robinson for Congress." The radio station, WSJS, was concerned that the FEC and/or FCC might take issue with the non-English disclaimer, as the rest of the ad was in English. To avoid possibly being construed as biased, WSJS pulled all ads for the 5th District Primary. After Robinson decided to change the disclaimer to be in English with the above text, WSJS restored the modified ad, and with it, all 5th District ads. The guideline with which WSJS was concerned required the organization paying for a political advertisement to be disclosed. In defending his ad, Robinson said, according to the Winston-Salem Journal, "I think there might be a debate about 'paid for' (being understood), but 'Robinson for Congreso' is clear."

Robinson takes a socially conservative stance on a number of other issues. He campaigned at gun shows in the 5th District. Robinson frequently charged his primary opponents as being big tax-raisers and homosexual rights supporters. Jack Kemp initially endorsed Robinson, but withdrew his endorsement when Robinson supported strong enforcement of immigration laws.

In an eight-way primary for the Republican nomination, Robinson pulled 24% of the vote, finishing first and ahead of well-funded candidates but falling short of the 40% threshold required to avoid a runoff. Therefore, in August, Robinson faced off against second-place primary finisher Virginia Foxx, who also was a social conservative. He polled 45% against Foxx. Foxx went on to win the general election over Democrat Jim Harrell, Jr..