Northam’s long-term plans a mystery

RICHMOND, Va. — He promised to start an honest conversation about race and how to heal the lingering wounds of Virginia’s painful past. Then he disappeared.

For the past week, Gov. Ralph Northam has defied widespread calls for his resignation after a racist yearbook picture and a bungled response upended his career. The 59-year-old Democrat has hired a crisis communications firm, used underground tunnels at the Capitol to stay out of sight and unveiled no strategy for how he might govern effectively over the next three years.

His best hope of survival in the short term might be the eruption of two other controversies that have since hit the two men next in line to succeed him, both Democrats. The party might be loath to oust the three for fear of handing the governor’s office over to the Republican legislative leader who is next in line.

But Northam’s long-term plans are still a mystery. The uncertainty has led opponents to pile on, left his staff rudderless and prompted supporters to urge him to act quickly.

“I’m not privy to any plans, but I suspect he will step up and lead,” said Republican Sen. Richard Stuart, a close friend who talks to the governor daily. Asked when that might be, Stuart said: “Soon, I hope.”

Northam has come under pressure from nearly the entire Democratic establishment to resign after the discovery of a photo on his profile page in the Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook of someone in blackface standing next to a person in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe.

The governor initially said he was in the photo without saying which costume he was wearing. At a surreal news conference the next day, he reversed course and said he was convinced he wasn’t in the picture. But he said he once wore blackface when performing as Michael Jackson at a dance competition in 1984.

At that same news conference last Saturday, he said he owed it to the people of Virginia to start a discussion about race and discrimination and listen to the pain he had caused. “I believe this moment can be the first small step to open a discussion about these difficult issues,” he said.

Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax was accused of sexually assaulting a woman 15 years ago, a charge he denies. The next official in line to replace a governor, Attorney General Mark Herring, also admitted that when he was a teenager, he once wore blackface to a party.

Drew Angerer / Getty Images A view inside the House of Delegates chamber as Virginia Speaker of the House Kirk Cox presides over a session at the Virginia State Capitol on Thursday in Richmond, Va. Virginia state politics are in a state of upheaval, with Gov. Ralph Northam and state Attorney General Mark Herring both admitting to past uses of blackface and Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax accused of sexual misconduct.