The ad begins in a sunny kitchen. A woman in a dark blue top and a simple gold necklace pours herself a cup of coffee and speaks directly to the camera, a Bible on the table in front of her.

“I’m Yolanda Robinson,” she says in the two-minute spot released last week. “Lord knows you’ve heard a lot of things about my husband, Mark.”

It is rare to hear the voice of North Carolina’s second lady, who this week played the familiar role of a political wife defending her husband’s character in the aftermath of a public scandal. The Mark she mentions in the ad is Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is pressing forward with his campaign for governor after CNN reported that he had posted on a pornographic website more than a decade ago disturbing comments, including one in which he referred to himself as a “black NAZI.” (Mr. Robinson has denied the report.)

In a game of political trivia, most participants would find it difficult to conjure up the name of their state’s second lady. In North Carolina, however, the wife of the lieutenant governor is a little better known.

Ms. Robinson, 56, is sometimes seen by her husband’s side at campaign stops, occasionally planting a kiss on him before he speaks at rallies and events. (She has appeared on the campaign trail at least once since the CNN report.) But during Mr. Robinson’s short political career, she has also drawn attention for ventures that ran into legal trouble. One of them — a nonprofit — was shuttered this year amid an investigation that required the organization to repay $132,000 to a state agency.

“The fact that we know her name is unusual,” said Chris Cooper, a professor of political science and public affairs and the director of the Haire Institute for Public Policy at Western Carolina University. “It tells us that she has been ensnared in almost as much controversy as her husband.”