gotchanewsdaily.com 
CNN
—
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson “is currently being treated for burns following an incident at a campaign event in Mt. Airy. He is in good spirits,” Mike Lonergan, communications director for Robinson’s gubernatorial campaign, told CNN Friday night.
NewsNation was first to report his hospitalization, which a source close to his campaign confirmed to CNN earlier Friday night.
Robinson is the Republican nominee for governor in the state. He’d made several campaign stops around the state Friday, according to a previously provided schedule and social media posts. The final stop on his schedule Friday was the Mayberry Truck Show and Parade in Mount Airy.
Robinson’s hospitalization comes amid continued fallout from CNN’s reporting on the lieutenant governor’s past inflammatory comments on a pornography website’s message board.
Many prominent Republicans sought to distance themselves from Robinson in the aftermath, including former President Donald Trump, who did not mention Robinson during a recent campaign stop in North Carolina despite having previously endorsed him.
National Republican groups have also pulled financial support for Robinson as several of his campaign officials have stepped down and his top staffer is set to resign.
As the embattled candidate continues to campaign, a new CNN poll shows that the race is slipping away from Robinson. The poll, released Friday and conducted by SSRS after CNN KFile’s reporting was published, showed Democrat Josh Stein leading Robinson 53% to 36% among likely voters.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
CNN’s Kaanita Iyer contributed to this report.
