North Carolina's Republican candidate for governor promised to stay in the race on Thursday after CNN reported that he once called himself a "black NAZI!" and proposed bringing back slavery in comments posted on a pornography website.

Mr. Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina, vowed to stay in the race and sought to deny the report, which also said he had defended slavery in online posts years ago.

A North Carolina loss could not only foil Trump’s re-election chances, it would be a particular home-state humiliation for his two handpicked co-chairs of the Republican National Committee: Michael Whatley, who is the state’s former GOP chair, and Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, who is a North Carolina native.