Crises leave Va. Dems scrambling
On AG, lieutenant governor, most take wait-and-see stance
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia’s Democrats struggled to find their way out of three interlocking political crises Thursday that could bring down the party’s top elected officials and put a Republican in the governor’s chair.
With Gov. Ralph Northam’s career in peril over a racist photo in his medical school yearbook, the state attorney general acknowledged on Wednesday that he put on blackface in college, and a woman accused the lieutenant governor of sexually assaulting her 15 years ago.
While nearly the entire Democratic establishment rose up against Northam to demand he resign, party members largely withheld judgment on the two latest developments, which could make a GOP legislative leader the governor.
President Donald Trump accused the Democrats of a double standard, tweeting: “If the three failing pols were Republicans, far stronger action would be taken.”
Some clarity on the way forward could come from Virginia’s Legislative Black Caucus, which was preparing a statement on the crisis. The caucus has been calling for Northam’s resignation but was silent about Attorney General Mark Herring and Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who would become Virginia’s second black governor if Northam stepped down.
Several top Democratic female lawmakers in Virginia declined to comment Thursday on an allegation of sexual assault that California college professor Vanessa Tyson made against Fairfax. He has denied the allegation.
Meanwhile, The Virginian Pilot reported Thursday that state Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment was managing editor of the Virginia Military Institute’s 1968 yearbook, which includes racial slurs and at least one image of a person in blackface.
In a statement, Norment, a Republican, condemned the use of blackface. He said he was one of seven people who worked on the yearbook and “cannot endorse or associate” himself with everything in it.
Norment says he isn’t featured in and did not take any of the photos in question.