Northam won’t resign, says he’s not in photo
Democratic leaders call for Va. governor to quit
Gov. Ralph Northam rejected mounting calls for his resignation Saturday and, in a sharp reversal, said he does not believe he in fact appears in a racist photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page.
“I am not the person in that photo,” Northam said at a news conference Saturday afternoon.
Northam went on to say, “I am far from perfect and I can always strive to do more.”
The statement to the media at the executive mansion in Richmond followed his apology on Friday in which he said he was one of two people in the photos that shows a man in blackface and the other in full Ku Klux Klan regalia, including a hood and robe. The photo appeared in the 1984 yearbook for Eastern Virginia Medical School.
“I am asking for the opportunity to earn your forgiveness,” Northam said.
The calls for him to step down erupted almost immediately after The Washington Post published a story on the photo, which was first discovered Friday afternoon by the conservative news outlet Big League Politics.
In a written statement Friday, the governor had said, “I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now.” He also vowed to push forward and work to mend the damage he said he had caused.
“This behavior is not in keeping with who I am today and the values I have fought for throughout my career in the military, in medicine, and in public service,” Northam said. “But I want to be clear, I understand how this decision shakes Virginians’ faith in that commitment.”
“I recognize that it will take time and serious effort to heal the damage this conduct has caused,” the statement read. “I am ready to do that important work.”
Northam later tweeted a video apology saying that the “racist” photo “doesn’t reflect” the person he is now. He also said he wanted to serve out his four-year term.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, describing the photos as “racist and conVirginia trary to fundamental American values,” called on Northam to “do the right thing so that the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia can heal and move forward.”
Former vice president Joe Biden, Terry McAuliffe, Northam’s Democratic predecessor as governor, a halfdozen Democratic presidential hopefuls, the NAACP, Planned Parenthood and state Democratic lawmakers, called on the governor to resign.
Virginia’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, each issued statements stopping short of calling out right for his departure, but saying Northam should carefully consider his next move.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch said in an editorial that Northam should step down.