Background and career
Robert Cannon "Robin" Hayes (born August 14, 1945) is an American politician and businessman from North Carolina. A member of the Republican Party, he represented North Carolina's 8th congressional district in the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2009, and was the Republican nominee for Governor of North Carolina in 1996. Hayes served as chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party from 2011 to 2013, and from 2016 to 2019. Accused in a bribery scheme in 2019, Hayes pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. On January 20, 2021, Hayes was pardoned by President Donald Trump.
Hayes was born in Concord, North Carolina, to Mariam Winslow (née Cannon) and Robert Griffith Hayes Jr. His great-grandfather James William Cannon founded the Cannon Mills Corporation, a Kannapolis-based textile company that was later run by his grandfather Charles Albert Cannon. He is also a descendant of Abraham Owen, a military officer killed at the Battle of Tippecanoe. Hayes graduated from Duke University. He was elected to the Concord city council in 1978 and to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1992 where he served two terms. He was the Republican nominee for governor in 1996, but was handily defeated by Democratic incumbent Jim Hunt. Hayes owns a hosiery mill in Mount Pleasant, North Carolina.
1998–2000 Hayes ran for Congress in 1998 after 12-term incumbent Democrat Bill Hefner announced his retirement. He narrowly defeated Democrat Mike Taylor, winning 51%–48% with a gap of only 3,400 votes. In 2000, he defeated Taylor in a rematch 55%–44%.
2002–2004 Even though a large chunk of its population is located in the conservative-leaning eastern suburbs of Charlotte, the 8th has long been considered marginally Democratic due to a strong Democratic presence in the eastern portion of the district closer to Fayetteville. After the 2000 Census, the Democratic-controlled North Carolina General Assembly made the 8th considerably more Democratic than before. It shifted the heavily Republican western portion of Union County to the Charlotte-based 9th District. In its place, it added a heavily Democratic tendril in Mecklenburg County to the 8th, stretching from the far northeastern portion of Charlotte almost to Matthews. In 2002, he defeated Democrat Chris Kouri 54%–45%. In 2004, he defeated Democrat Beth Troutman 56%–45%.
In 2006, however, Hayes was nearly defeated by Democrat Larry Kissell, a social studies teacher and former textile worker from Montgomery County. Each man won approximately 50% of the vote, making it one of the closest elections in the country. At the end, Kissell conceded defeat to Hayes after a recount; Hayes officially won the election by 329 votes. This was especially stunning since Kissell received little help from his national party until late in the campaign. Although Hayes only won three of the district's nine counties, a 6,100-vote margin in his native Cabarrus County was enough to keep him in office.
In 2008, Hayes again faced Kissell. CQ Politics rated it as 'No Clear Favorite', The Rothenberg Political Report as 'Toss-Up/Tilt Democratic', and The Cook Political Report as 'Republican Toss Up' The Sunlight Foundation reported that as of 2008, among the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Hayes had the highest amount of investment in oil stocks. Hayes came under fire late in the campaign for his comments at a rally for John McCain. On October 18, 2008, at a McCain rally, Hayes began his remarks by saying it was important to "make sure we don't say something stupid, make sure we don't say something we don't mean." He then accused Obama of "inciting class warfare" and said that "liberals hate real Americans that work and accomplish and achieve and believe in God." Hayes repeatedly denied that he had made the statement and accused reporters of "irresponsible journalism", until an audio recording attesting to the statement was released. A few days later at a debate hosted by the Concord and Kannapolis Independent Tribune, Hayes denied that he denied the statement, saying he was denying only the context of how the remarks were presented to him. Kissel defeated him 55%–45%.
