Virginia governor vows to stay; calls mount to oust lieutenant governor
Reuters: Virginia’s embattled governor, Ralph Northam, capped a week of political chaos ignited by racial scandals by vowing to stay in office on Friday, while the fellow Democrat in line to succeed him faced a second accusation of sexual assault. Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax issued a statement denying both allegations as a “coordinated smear campaign.” He said the latest accusation, that he had raped a fellow student at Duke University in 2000, was “demonstrably false” and declared he would not step down.
Fairfax, 39, insisted earlier this week that his encounter with a woman who has accused him of forcing himself on her sexually at a hotel in Boston 14 years ago was entirely consensual.
But Friday’s accusation sparked a round of calls for the resignation – and even a threat of impeachment – of the once-promising young politician who seemed poised days ago to replace Northam and become the second African-American governor in Virginia history.
The second in line to succeed Northam, Attorney General Mark Herring, 57, came under fire with his own admission this week that he, like Northam, had once darkened his face to imitate a black performer – a practice widely considered to be racist.
The possibility of all three top-ranked leaders of Virginia’s executive branch having to resign raised the prospect of Democrats losing the governorship to the Republican speaker of the state House of Delegates, who is next in the line of succession. And that possibility has tested Democrats’ resolve to show zero tolerance for sexual misconduct and racial bigotry.
It also has stirred Democrats’ concerns that political discord in Virginia, a key swing state in presidential elections, could flip it back into the Republican column in the 2020 White House race.
The upheaval began with the revelation last Friday that Northam’s 1984 medical school yearbook page contained a racist photo, followed by his acknowledgment of, and apology for, masquerading in blackface that year as pop star Michael Jackson.
After a week hunkered down in virtual seclusion under mounting pressure to resign, Northam indicated in an email message on Friday to state employees that he planned to keep his post.
“You have placed your trust in me to lead Virginia forward – and I plan to do that,” Northam said.