North Carolina’s Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson is trailing Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein in the state’s closely watched gubernational race, according to a new poll.

The ActiVote survey has Stein leading Robinson by eight points, 54 percent to 46 percent.

It was conducted among 400 likely voters between July 26 and August 26, and has an average expected error of 4.9 percent.

Several other polls conducted in August also have Stein leading Robinson by at least eight points, according to poll aggregator FiveThirty Eight.

A High Point University/Survey USA poll conducted among 1,053 registered voters between August 19 and 21 had Stein leading by 14 points, 48 percent to 34 percent.

The Stein and Robinson campaigns have been contacted for comment via email.

North Carolina’s gubernatorial race is expected to be close. The battleground state has voted Republican in recent presidential elections, but Democrats have won seven out of the eight governor’s races since 1992.

Stein is seeking to keep the governor’s office under his party’s control after two terms under outgoing Governor Roy Cooper, who described Robinson as “the most extreme statewide candidate in the country right now.”

Cooper told Politico earlier this month that he withdrew from consideration to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in part because he feared Robinson could try to seize power in his absence.

“If I were to be out of state at a campaign event, if I had been the vice-presidential nominee, he could claim he was acting governor,” Cooper said.

Robinson, who would be North Carolina’s first Black governor if elected, is a controversial figure with a history of attacks on women, Muslims, Jews and the LGBTQ+ community, and pushing conspiracy theories.

He has used words like “filth” and “maggots” when talking about the LGBTQ+ community and said in 2019 that mass shootings were “karma” for American’s support of abortion rights.

He also sparked criticism after saying that Black Americans are not owed reparations for slavery, saying: “If you want to tell the truth about it, it is YOU who owes!”

Former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Robinson in March, has called him “Martin Luther King on steroids.”

“In North Carolina, campaigns are decided by small margins in November,” Stein’s campaign manager Jeff Allen told Newsweek earlier this month.

“Over the next three months, we will continue to work to earn every vote in every corner of the state so that North Carolinians know the clear choice in this race: Josh Stein, who fights for a safer, stronger North Carolina, versus Mark Robinson, who fights job-killing culture wars.”

RALEIGH, N.C. — The mother of a touted high school quarterback who has committed to play for the Tennessee Volunteers is suing the state of North Carolina over its restrictions against public-school athletes cashing in on their fame.

Rolanda Brandon filed the complaint last week in Wake County Superior Court. Her son is Greensboro Grimsley quarterback Faizon Brandon, who is ranked No. 32 in the ESPN Junior 300 and is the No. 4 pocket passer in the class.

The North Carolina State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction are named as defendants. The lawsuit followed a policy adopted in June blocking the state’s public-school athletes from making money through the use of their name, image and likeness.

“The State Board of Education was asked to create rules allowing public high school athletes to use their NIL — it was not empowered to ban it,” Charlotte-based attorney Mike Ingersoll said in a statement to The Charlotte Observer. “We look forward to correcting the State Board’s error and to help our client benefit from the incredible value and opportunities his hard work and commitment have created for his name, image, and likeness.”

The complaint states that “a prominent national trading card company” had agreed to pay for Faizon to sign memorabilia before graduation, offering the family “financial security for years to come,” WRAL of Raleigh reported.

North Carolina is among the states that don’t permit NIL activities such as endorsements for public appearances at camps or autograph signings, all of which have become common at the college level.

That restriction, however, doesn’t apply to private-school athletes, such as fellow Tennessee recruit David Sanders, the No. 4 overall prospect in the 2025 ESPN 300 who plays for Charlotte’s Providence Day School. Sanders has a website dedicated toward selling merchandise with his own image.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Tennessee LANDS Faizon Brandon! | What’s Next in 2026 for the Volunteers? | Inside Scoop

The mother of Class of 2026 Tennessee five-star quarterback commit Faizon Brandon has brought the fight for NIL rights to the courtroom.

Currently 39 states – through laws or local athletic associations – allow athletes to participate in NIL deals without forfeiting the ability to play high school sports. North Carolina remains one of the 11 that does not allow high schoolers to capitalize on NIL.

Filed by Rolanda Brandon on Friday in Wake County against the North Carolina Board of Education and Department of Public Instruction, the suit states the quarterback was offered life-changing NIL money by a “prominent national trading card company.” The complaint asks for a preliminary and permanent injunction to allow NIL for public high school athletes.

“By imposing a full ban …. has harmed F.B. widely regarded as the nation’s top-rated high school football recruit in his class – by unlawfully restricting his right to freely use his NIL, which he and he alone owns, thereby jeopardizing his ability to capitalize on life-changing opportunities currently available to him and provide himself and his family with financial security,” the complaint states.

Private schools in North Carolina allow NIL

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association Board of Directors approved a proposal in May 2023 that would’ve brought NIL rights to North Carolina public high school student-athletes starting on July 1, 2023. But North Carolina politicians shut the measure down barely a day later with legislation that eventually stripped the state association of much of its power and threatened its very existence.

But private school athletes in North Carolina can profit off NIL. The top North Carolina prospect in the 2025 class, David Sanders Jr., attends Providence Day School, a private school. He’s already signed NIL representation with WME. 

“The Board’s NIL Prohibition is not just inconsistent with the overwhelming majority of states nationally, but is inconsistent with NIL policy in North Carolina, itself,” Monday’s filing states.

The filing also states the quarterback has missed out on “potentially millions of dollars that Brandon has no guarantee of ever recouping.” 

Trading card companies offering major high school deals

Over the last six months, top high school football prospects have inked exclusive, multi-year deals with Leaf Trading Cards. At least six of the top quarterbacks in the upcoming 2025, 2026 and 2027 classes have inked NIL deals with the company. That doesn’t include Florida freshman quarterback DJ Lagway, who signed with Leaf shortly after enrolling.

Faizon Brandon does not have that opportunity. On April 30, the quarterback was presented with the “life-changing” deal that would have paid him and his family “a substantial sum of money.”

“I definitely feel like that as this process gets started, if the state doesn’t allow the public schools to benefit the same way that the private schools are, that it will become a factor in losing kids to private school,” said Darryl Brown, the coach at Grimsley High School, where Faizon Brandon plays, previously told On3.

The complaint also states that Brandon and his mother, Rolanda, reached out to the Board of Education in July asking for information on the NIL prohibition. Brandon was also denied a meeting.

“F.B. has also been approached by other businesses wishing to license F.B.’s NIL for commercial purposes and have expressed terms to F.B. that would yield him sums similar to or in excess of his proposed agreement with NIL Sponsor 1,” the complaint states. “However, expressly because of the Board’s improper NIL prohibition, those businesses will not engage in any meaningful discussions with F.B.”