North Carolina Lt. Gov Mark Robinson has been hospitalized after an ‘incident’ at campaign event.

Robinson was campaigning at an event in Mount Airy when he reportedly left “quickly” before being taken to hospital and treated for burns – according to reporters for NewsNation. A source reportedly said he was “currently being treated for burns following an incident at a campaign event in Mt. Airy. He is in good spirits.”

NewsNation went on to report Robinson had been treated for second-degree burns to his hand. Robinson was scheduled to speak at a Faith & Freedom event on Saturday, which has since been cancelled.

Republican Mark Robinson’s campaign for governor in North Carolina has been rocked by a CNN report that he posted racist and explicit messages on a pornography web site message board more than a decade ago. Some in his party fear the allegations could threaten Donald Trump’s standing in a state critical to winning the presidency in November.

Robinson has refused to do that, standing pat as the latest of a line of populist, outside-the-box Republicans to rise in Trump’s shadow. The former furniture factory worker’s political career took off when he attended a Greensboro City Council meeting in 2018, when he spoke out against the council’s plans to cancel a gun show in the wake of a school shooting in Florida. “I’m going to come down here to this city council and raise hell just like these loonies from the left do until you listen to the majority of the people in this city,” he said in a defense of gun rights that went viral.

Robinson left his furniture job and took up public speaking, addressing the National Rifle Association and other conservative groups. He ran for lieutenant governor in 2020 as a Republican, winning a statewide post in his first campaign. Robinson soon began positioning himself to be the first major party Black candidate for governor in 2024, when Democrat Roy Cooper could not seek reelection because of term limits.

Robinson also quickly drew attention for stoking conservative culture wars, especially on sex and gender politics. In a 2019 Facebook post, Robinson, who admitted paying for his then-girlfriend to have an abortion in the 1980s, said abortion in America was about “killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.” In a 2021 speech in a church, he used the word “filth” when discussing gay and transgender people.

Robinson’s provocative language led some Republicans to worry he stood little chance of winning a general election in North Carolina, which has a history of rejecting hard-line conservatives for governor in favor of moderate Democrats. Most Republican voters did not share that concern, nominating Robinson this year over two rivals widely seen as more electable. Robinson had extra help with a primary endorsement from Trump, who compared Robinson to Martin Luther King, Jr.