North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein defeated scandal-plagued Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson in the state’s gubernatorial race, NBC News projects.

Mr. Stein’s campaign focused on education and abortion rights. But the core of his message was that Mr. Robinson, the Republican, was unfit to lead the state.

North Carolina voters elevated state Attorney General Josh Stein to the governor’s office Tuesday, rejecting scandal-plagued Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. Stein’s received 775,821 votes (51.7%) of the vote to Robinson’s 653,335 (43.6%), with 25% of the votes in, the Associated Press reports.

Democrat Josh Stein has bested scandal-plagued Republican Mark Robinson to become the next governor of North Carolina, according to a call from the Associated Press.

Robinson had garnered several negative headlines in the past several months for inflammatory comments about school shooting survivors and others

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson lost his bid for governor, after he failed to attract support even from other Republican voters following a scandal-plagued campaign in the closely watched battleground state.

North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson was handily defeated by Democrat Josh Stein on Tuesday, bringing an end to a chaotic campaign ultimately defined by Robinson's many scandals.