Democratic Virginia leaders face multiple accusations of racism and sexual harassment

The month of February has seen some major conflict for high-ranking public officials in Virginia. With their top three elected officials engulfed in scandal, many Virginians have expressed doubts about their leaders’ ability to effectively govern the state.

The controversy began on Feb. 1 with right-wing investigative media website Big League Politics’ publication of Democratic Governor Ralph Northam’s medical school yearbook page from 1984. On the page was a photograph picturing two students: one dressed in a Ku Klux Klan robe and the other in blackface, a type of makeup and imagery that many in this day and age consider to be racist. Although Northam acknowledged that he was in the photo and apologized formally, many Democratic officials urged him to resign, including members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus and several 2020 presidential contenders.

On Feb. 2, Northam revoked his previous affirmation by claiming that he was “definitely not” pictured in the photograph. According to The New York Times, Northam added that he “did darken his face with shoe polish for a Michael Jackson costume in a dance contest in Texas in 1984.” Not convinced, Virginia’s two senators and attorney general again called for him to step down amidst support from many other Democrats. Northam expressed intentions to stay in office, telling the public that he was “not going anywhere,” hoped to clear his name, and would work to address “tremendous inequities” in Virginia and the nation.

The Virginia governor is not the only leader engulfed in scandal, however. Just days after the exposure of the offensive photograph, Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax, who ran on a separate ticket from Northam, was accused of sexual assault. Dr. Vanessa Tyson, who claimed that Fairfax forced her to perform oral sex on him, supposedly first reported this allegation to The Washington Post shortly after Fairfax’s election in 2017. Fairfax asserted that their interactions had been consensual, but the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus still declared the allegation to be “troubling.”

On Feb. 8, a second woman came forward with another accusation of sexual assault. Meredith Watson alleged that Fairfax raped her while they were both students at Duke University. Although Fairfax denied this claim as well, multiple key Democratic leaders across the country still called for his resignation. Fairfax responded by vowing to remain in office, even when the state Democratic Party issued a statement saying that he no longer had “their confidence or support” and should step down from office. Both Tyson and Watson said they would be willing to testify in impeachment proceedings, though Virginia House Democrats have seemed to back off in their efforts to open an impeachment inquiry.

Next in line to the governor seat in Virginia after the lieutenant governor is the attorney general. Mark Herring, current attorney general since 2014, added to the chaos by announcing on Feb. 6 that he had once worn blackface for a party in 1980 while completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia. “That I have contributed to the pain Virginians have felt this week is the greatest shame I have ever felt,” he said in a statement. While Democrats have called for the resignation of the governor and lawmakers have clashed on whether to impeach Fairfax, Herring has seemed to escape the majority of the limelight.

Virginia has continued to go through inner political turmoil as a result of these transpiring events. “Everybody is shaking their heads, nobody knows what’s going to happen,” State Senator Creigh Deeds, a Democrat who ran for governor a decade ago, told The New York Times. “It might change in 15 minutes.”

Although as of late February it seems unlikely that a change in Virginia’s leadership will occur, this could very well spell difficulty for Democrats who are hoping to win control of the GOP-dominated legislature. All 140 legislative seats will be up for grabs this November. Many Democrats had previously been hopeful that voter antipathy toward President Donald Trump would help them gain the majority in the General Assembly and cement Virginia’s status as a blue state. Now, many fret that the current crisis in leadership will not only cost them their chance at gaining a majority, but will also lose them several seats currently held by their own.

Article by MoCo Student Staff Writer Elena Moore of Damascus High School