Virginia Democrats struggle with interlocking crises

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 1984 medical school yearbook, the state attorney general acknowledged on Wednesday that he put on blackface when he was in college, and a woman publicly accused the lieutenant governor of sexually assaulting her 15 years ago.

While nearly the entire Democratic establishment rose up against Northam over the past week to demand he resign, party members largely withheld judgment on the two latest developments, which threaten to cause a political chain reaction that 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.

Many Democrats are likely to follow the group’s cues.

Quentin Kidd, a political science professor at Christopher Newport University, had initially predicted Northam would be unable to hang on to office for more than a week. Now, with all three top Democrats in trouble, the equation has changed, he said.

He said it is possible all three could survive just out of political necessity because conservative Republican House Speaker Kirk Cox would be next in line for governor if they all resigned.