Va. governor won’t resign
After apologizing the day before, Virginia Democrat denies he was in med school yearbook photo showing two men in blackface, KKK robes
Gov. Ralph Northam digs in despite pressure to quit and denies he appeared in racist yearbook photos.
Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia, facing pressure from his own party to resign, said Saturday he will not quit and denied that he appeared in Ku Klux Klan robes or in blackface in images from his medical school yearbook that have upended his governorship.
“I am not either of the people in that photo,” Northam, a Democrat, told reporters at a news conference in the governor’s mansion. “My first impression actually was, ‘This couldn’t be me.’ ”
Pressed on why he initially apologized anyway, Northam said he wanted to “take credit for recognizing that this was a horrific photo that was on my page with my name on it.”
The governor called the images, which first surfaced Friday afternoon, “offensive, racist and despicable.” But he said: “I cannot in good conscience choose the path that would be easier for me to duck the responsibility to reconcile.”
But he may have made his effort to remain in office more difficult by revealing that he had darkened his face with shoe polish in the 1980s at a Michael Jackson-inspired dance party in Texas when he was a young Army officer.
“I look back now and regret that I did not understand the harmful legacy of an action like that,” he said.
Virginia’s legislative black caucus did not wait for the news conference to end before issuing a statement reaffirming its call for the governor to quit. Noting that Northam initially said Friday that he was in the photograph, the group of legislators, who are all Democrats, said: “The damage that has been done by these revelations is irreparable.”
Others soon followed with similar reactions. The Virginia Democratic Party said it stood by its call earlier Saturday for Northam to resign. And the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Tom Perez, also urged the governor to step aside.
No recollection?
Northam asked Virginians for forgiveness and said he understood not all of the state’s citizens would believe him.
The governor’s refusal to resign plunged Virginia into political turmoil and created a crisis for national Democrats, who have assailed President Donald Trump for his demagoguery on racial issues and will not abide a prominent party member who is associated with emblems of bigotry.
With the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race getting underway, the pressure on Northam has been intense: The party’s White House hopefuls were some of the first officials to call on him to resign Friday night, beginning a cascade of demands that extended through Saturday morning when other potential Democratic candidates, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, urged the governor to step down.
By Friday night, Northam was increasingly isolated, but in phone calls Saturday morning he said he had no recollection of the yearbook image of two men, one in blackface and the other in Ku Klux Klan robes.
In addition to calling state Democratic officials, Northam started calling former classmates at Eastern Virginia Medical School in an effort to determine more information about the picture — and to survive a crisis that is threatening his yearold governorship, according to a Democrat familiar with Northam’s calls.
This Democrat said the governor was determined to prove it was not him in the photograph and was even considering using facial recognition software. The governor, the Democrat said, had wanted to take responsibility Friday night, which was why he apologized for appearing in the picture without acknowledging which person he was in the image.
Furor at the top
At his news conference Saturday, Northam said he had a chance to sit down Friday night and look at the photo closely. He said he also consulted with his family and friends, including a classmate who said that there were photo mix-ups on other pages in the yearbook.
“It is definitely not me,” he said.
The governor told one senior Virginia Democrat on Saturday morning that he had not selected the photos for the yearbook and that, in conversations with medical school classmates, he had been told some of the pictures were mixed up across the pages. He said Saturday that he had not bought the yearbook and had never seen it.
But most state leaders said privately that Northam’s initial acknowledgment that he was in the photo made it all but impossible for him to remain in office because he had lost support from nearly all his allies in the state Capitol. On Friday, the state Legislative Black Caucus and both the House and Senate Democratic caucuses called on him to step down.
At first, the black caucus, a strong ally of Northam, who was elected in 2017, held off. But after an emotional meeting with the governor Friday evening, the caucus said in a statement, “It is clear he can no longer effectively serve as governor.”
The statement prompted others to call for his resignation. Among them were former Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Mayor Levar Stoney of Richmond, both longtime allies of the governor, who spoke with him by phone before issuing their statements.
The furor also resonated nationally with top party leaders. With African-American voters a crucial constituency for Democrats, many of the announced and likely 2020 presidential candidates called for Northam’s exit. On Friday, they included Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.
Pelosi: ‘Do the right thing’
By Saturday, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Vice President Joe Biden, both weighing candidacies, had added their voices, as did Pelosi, who said the photo was “racist and contrary to fundamental American values.” She urged Northam on Saturday to “do the right thing” so Virginians could “heal and move forward.”
A low-key pediatric neurologist who entered politics only when he was elected to the state Senate in 2007, Northam had enjoyed high approval ratings thanks in part to the state’s booming economy and a handful of initial achievements.
After Democratic gains in the Virginia House, he was able to push through Medicaid expansion last year with bipartisan support. And late last year, he announced one of the most significant economic development achievements in recent Virginia history when Amazon announced it was adding a new headquarters in Arlington.
If he steps down, Northam would be the first Virginia governor to resign since at least the Civil War. Under the Virginia Constitution, Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax, a Democrat and the second black person to be elected to statewide office in Virginia, would assume the governorship.
The Virginia Constitution allows the impeachments of governors for “offending against the Commonwealth by malfeasance in office, corruption, neglect of duty or other high crime or misdemeanor.” If Northam chooses to remain in office and legislators ultimately seek his impeachment, the House of Delegates would be the first legislative chamber to consider the matter.
The Senate would conduct any subsequent trial and determine whether Northam kept power.