NC Gov. Mark Robinson was treated for burns after an incident at a campaign rally

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor, was hospitalized Friday following an incident at a campaign rally in Mount Airy, a campaign spokesman said late Friday.

Robinson was treated for second-degree burns at Northern Regional Hospital, according to Robinson campaign spokesman Michael Lonergan. “He’s in good spirits,” Lonergan said.

Lonergan did not immediately provide any information about the nature of the incident.

Robinson had attended the Mayberry Truck Show in Mount Airy, the fourth of four campaign events the candidate attended across the state on Friday. Robinson had previously attended a Moore County Republican Party event; a meet-and-greet at a Golden Corral restaurant in Laurinburg; and an event at a Mexican restaurant in Rockingham.

Robinson was expected to resume campaign events on Saturday as he tries to breathe new life into his campaign against Democrat Josh Stein.

Robinson trails Stein by at least 10 percentage points in several recent polls. A Meredith College poll released Friday found Robinson lost followers after CNN reported last week on offensive, racist and pornographic comments that linked the network to Robinson.

CNN linked Robinson to posts on a website called Nude Africa. The comments praised Adolf Hitler, called for the reintroduction of slavery and described explicit pornographic preferences. In one post, Robinson called himself “a black Nazi,” CNN reported. The network linked Robinson to the account using his email address, profile picture and username, which matched those he had used on other websites. The comments were made before Robinson took public office.

Robinson has denied the claims made in the report, calling them false even before details were released. He has since been pressured by some Republicans to provide evidence of his denials. CNN has not responded to WRAL's request for comment on this matter.

In recent days, the Republican candidate has pressed ahead with his campaign despite a wave of resignations from his campaign and state office that followed the CNN report. On Thursday, Robinson named a new chief of staff. The campaign selected political consultant Matt Hurley to replace Conrad Pogorzelski, who resigned as Robinson's senior adviser.

Visits to voters have become more important to the campaign, especially as it faces the fallout from the CNN report. The Republican Governors Association has said it has not funded more ads on Robinson's behalf – which is notable because it was believed to be putting more money into advertising than Robinson's own campaign.

Robinson told WRAL Friday before the incident in Mount Airy that he plans to continue speaking out on issues important to North Carolinians, such as immigration, crime and drug overdoses.

“My campaign is in full swing,” he said in a statement.