Alan Blinder and Jonathan Martin

The senator, Thomas Norment, who is the majority leader, was the managing editor of the 1968 Virginia Military Institute yearbook, which included slurs and images of students in blackface. Norment called the use of blackface “abhorrent” while pointing out that he did not take or appear in any of the photographs.

He said he was not surprised that “those wanting to engulf Republican leaders” in the controversies that have rocked Virginia Democrats “would highlight the yearbook from my graduation a half-century ago.”

As Norment sought to defuse the fresh controversy, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, a Democrat, faced mounting calls from leading members of his party for an investigation into a woman’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her in 2004. Several high-profile Democrats, including some 2020 presidential candidates and members of Virginia’s congressional delegation, said they believed the woman’s account was credible.

The spiraling developments left Virginia bracing for a sustained stretch of upheaval as fears about the behavior of leading government officials showed little sign of abating. Yet there were also increasing signs that the besieged officials, including Gov. Ralph Northam, who Saturday admitted to using blackface in 1984, and Attorney General Mark Herring, who made a similar acknowledgment Wednesday, would remain in their posts.

On Thursday night, the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, which had not spoken collectively about the allegations against Fairfax or the blackface admission by Herring, issued a statement that may help the attorney general salvage his job. The black lawmakers praised Herring’s “candor” but said “we await further action on his part to reassure the citizens of the Commonwealth of his fitness for leadership.”

Regarding Fairfax, they called the charges against him “troubling” but said that he deserved due process and that they would monitor the matter closely “and act accordingly.”

Northam, who has been out of public view since Sunday, called Fairfax and Herring on Thursday. It was the first conversation between the governor and the lieutenant governor since Saturday, and a Democrat familiar with the call said the two embattled state officials said they were praying for each other.

Fairfax appeared to be in the gravest political peril, in part because he is the only official to have been accused of a possible crime. He has not been charged and has strenuously denied wrongdoing, but support for Fairfax, who just last week appeared poised for an imminent ascendance to the governor’s office, was tenuous.

Virginia’s congressional Democrats met privately for about 40 minutes in Sen. Tim Kaine’s office Thursday, and an official directly familiar with the discussion said Fairfax’s standing with the delegation is “deteriorating.”

Some of the Democratic women newly elected to the House expressed anger at the way Fairfax has handled the claims leveled against him by Vanessa Tyson, a college professor from California, and particularly reports that he used vulgar language in a private meeting with state Senate Democrats to describe her claims (Fairfax denies he referred to Tyson with an expletive).

But some of the African-American members of the delegation complained that Fairfax was being held to an unfair standard because of racial stereotypes about angry black men.

Shortly before 8 p.m., Virginia’s entire Democratic congressional delegation released a statement that was similar to that from the legislative black caucus.

Herring “must stand ready to answer questions from the public if he is to regain their trust,” the lawmakers said.

They added that they were “deeply disturbed” by the claims against Fairfax. “We believe these allegations need to be taken very seriously, and we respect the right of women to come forward and be heard,” they said.

The party’s presidential candidates, treading cautiously at the intersection of race and gender, are not going that far, instead publicly calling for an investigation and privately hoping more facts will emerge to lend clarity to the episode.

“I thought her story was deeply disturbing and credible so there must be an investigation,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, a 2020 candidate who was one of the first major Democrats to call for the ouster of former Sen. Al Franken, said on a Crooked Media podcast Wednesday night.

Sen. Kamala Harris of California, another presidential hopeful, called Tyson’s claims “credible” and said there should be an inquiry.

In a 2 1/2-page statement Wednesday, Tyson provided an exhaustive account of her encounter with Fairfax in 2004, saying that he had forced her to perform oral sex on him.

“I never gave any form of consent,” Tyson said.

Fairfax has suggested that Tyson misrepresented what occurred but called for her to “be treated with respect.” On Thursday, the lieutenant governor, who has regularly stopped to speak with reporters in recent days, rushed through the state Capitol. Ignoring questions about Tyson, he said only that he was headed to a Senate session and that he had spoken with Northam.

It was only hours later that a new prong of the state’s scandal rattled the Capitol, after The Virginian-Pilot reported that Norment, a state senator since 1992, had served as the managing editor of a VMI yearbook that showed racist imagery. Pages from the book that were viewed by The New York Times showed students in blackface and included slurs against African-Americans, Asians and Jews.

Norment sought to distance himself from the pictures.

“As one of seven working on a 359-page yearbook, I cannot endorse or associate myself with every photo, entry or word on each page,” Norment said.

The disclosures about Norment marked the second time in about a day — and the third time since Friday — that a powerful state official faced scrutiny about the use of blackface. But in Richmond and Washington, Herring was being credited for how he navigated his own past mistake, even though he failed to mention his history when he called for Northam’s resignation last week.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Kaine praised Herring for his contrition and his candor with black legislators, to whom he first revealed his use of blackface.

“He reached out to each of us individually, very apologetic, he is in dialogue with the legislative black caucus and African-American leadership in the state and they have been impressed with his sincerity while they’ve been very disappointed with what happened,” Kaine said.

Republicans, however, were suspicious that the forbearance being offered Herring also owed to a political calculation: the Republican-controlled Legislature would be able to appoint the attorney general’s successor were he to resign while the General Assembly is in session.

For their part, beleaguered Democrats in Richmond largely avoided questions about the fate of their executive branch as they ducked in and out of a Capitol that is now filled with state and national television crews.

Rising on the floor of the House of Delegates, Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn, the minority leader, acknowledged that “the past few days have been incredibly difficult and painful for us personally and for the Commonwealth of Virginia” but did not address any of the transgressions.

The torrent of missteps has left officials who so far are untainted answering questions about whether they have misconduct in their past that has not yet been disclosed.

“I have never been in blackface, unequivocal,” Kirk Cox, the Republican speaker of the House of Delegates, said not long before Norment’s yearbook became the latest subject of statehouse controversy.

Even as calls for his resignation have become more muted, Northam faced renewed public pressure Thursday from the Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader who appeared at Virginia Union University, a historically black college, for a hastily arranged discussion.

“If you sin, you must repent for the sin,” said Sharpton, who wants Northam and Herring to resign.

Northam, who remained out of sight again Thursday, has been urgently trying to repair his frayed ties with African-American supporters who had been crucial allies on the campaign trail and in the Capitol. He has hired a Washington-based communications firm led by African-Americans, and this week he invited two leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to the Executive Mansion.

“He actually called me and said he’d just like to talk to me,” Charles Steele, the group’s president, recounted Thursday. The discussion that came of that invitation, Steele said, was “professional and polite,” and Steele hoped that the governor would enter into a longer process of reconciliation.

“The governor still has to make a decision,” said Steele, who had previously urged Northam to resign. “I’m offering him the opportunity of a reconciliation.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/us/virginia-democrats-crisis-blackface.html" id="47ed2cc6-d4cf-3969-a2ea-2f1b1f21a078">The New York Times</a>.

Virginia Political Crisis Grows for Democrats and Republicans

RICHMOND, Va. — The political tumult in Virginia widened Thursday as the state Senate’s top Republican faced an onslaught of questions about racist photographs and slurs in a college yearbook that he helped oversee, transforming the Capitol’s nearly week-old crisis into a bipartisan reckoning over personal conduct.

The senator, Thomas Norment, who is the majority leader, was the managing editor of the 1968 Virginia Military Institute yearbook, which included images of students in blackface. Norment called the use of blackface “abhorrent” while pointing out that he did not appear in any of the photographs, and he attributed the sudden unearthing of the yearbook to “those wanting to engulf Republican leaders” in the scandal that has rocked Virginia Democrats.

Some Virginia Democrats are already going further on Tyson’s claims, which she outlined Wednesday in a raw and highly detailed statement.

“I believe Dr. Vanessa Tyson,” Rep. Jennifer Wexton wrote on Twitter.

At the same time, a powerful Republican state senator faced questions about his role as a top editor of a college yearbook that contained several racist photographs.

The developments had lawmakers here bracing for a sustained upheaval as the scandal involving the personal conduct of leading government officials showed no sign of ending.

Although two leading Democratic officials — Gov. Ralph Northam, who on Saturday admitted to using blackface in 1984, and Fairfax, who has been accused of a sexual assault in 2004 — have indicated that they will not resign, Attorney General Mark R. Herring, also a Democrat, has suggested that he could quit after acknowledging Wednesday that he, too, had once worn blackface.

Northam telephoned Fairfax and Herring on Thursday. It was the first conversation between the governor and the lieutenant governor since Saturday, and a Democrat familiar with the call said that the two embattled state officials said they were praying for each other.

In Washington, the Virginia congressional delegation met privately to consider what to say about the growing scandal that is crippling the state government.

Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat and former governor, suggested that Herring’s contrition and apology to black legislators on Wednesday may preserve his job.

But the senator was more guarded on Fairfax, who has denied allegations by a California professor, Vanessa C. Tyson, that he sexually assaulted her.

“What we have is a very compelling and detailed statement of a serious, serious charge by a respected professional, and we also have a very unequivocal denial of that charge from someone we know real well,” Kaine said.

That cautious approach was echoed by other leading national Democrats, who called for an investigation rather than Fairfax’s resignation, while stating that Tyson’s claims should be taken seriously.

“I thought her story was deeply disturbing and credible so there must be an investigation,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a 2020 presidential candidate who was one of the first major Democrats to call for the ouster of former Sen. Al Franken, said on a podcast Wednesday night.

Sen. Kamala Harris, another presidential hopeful, called Tyson’s claims “credible” and said there should be an inquiry.

Fairfax, who has regularly stopped to speak with reporters in recent days, rushed through the state Capitol on Thursday morning. Ignoring questions about Tyson, he said only that he was headed to a Senate session and that he had spoken with Northam.

At midday Thursday, the allegations involving racist history spread to Republicans for the first time when The Virginian-Pilot first reported that Senate majority leader Thomas K. Norment Jr. helped oversee a Virginia Military Institute yearbook that featured racist photographs and slurs, including blackface.

Norment, who has been a state senator since 1992, was a managing editor of the yearbook, called The Bomb, in 1968. The yearbook includes photographs showing students in blackface and includes slurs against African-Americans and Jews, according to a pages from the book that were viewed by The New York Times.

In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, Norment, 72, attributed the emergence of the yearbook to “those wanting to engulf Republican leaders in the current situations involving the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General.'’

“The use of blackface is abhorrent in our society and I emphatically condemn it,” he added. “As one of seven working on a 359-page yearbook, I cannot endorse or associate myself with every photo, entry, or word on each page. However, I am not in any of the photos referenced on pages 82 or 122, nor did I take any of the photos in question.”

The torrent of scandals has left state lawmakers finding themselves answering questions about whether they have so-far-undisclosed misconduct.

“I have never been in blackface, unequivocal,” Kirk Cox, the Republican speaker of the House of Delegates, said hours before Norment’s yearbook became the latest subject of statehouse controversy.

Northam, whose staff and political advisers have been working around the clock since this story erupted on Friday afternoon, has hired a Washington-based communications firm led by African-Americans to help him weather the gravest challenge of his political career. The company’s chairman, Jarvis C. Stewart, was hoping to sit down Thursday with the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has come to Richmond to discuss racial reconciliation at Virginia Union University, a historically black college here.

Appearing at a hastily arranged discussion at Virginia Union, Sharpton, called forcefully for Northam and Herring to resign, saying, “If you sin, you must repent for the sin.”

Regarding Fairfax, Sharpton cautioned against conflating the sexual assault claim against the lieutenant governor with the admission of wearing blackface by the governor and Herring. Sharpton said that there should be an investigation into the accusations against Fairfax and that both Tyson and the lieutenant governor should be respected during the process.

In the Capitol, the fast-moving events of the week left just about no one willing to predict what could come next, even in the whispered conversations that have dominated its corridors this week.

“Our diverse commonwealth has been deeply shaken by these developments, but nonetheless remains economically vibrant, fiscally sound, safe and secure,” Cox said in a statement. “We have weathered the storms of four centuries and will weather this one as well.”

On Thursday morning, President Donald Trump adopted a view that was more aggressive and partisan.

“Democrats at the top are killing the Great State of Virginia,” he wrote on Twitter, predicting that the commonwealth would return to the Republican column in the 2020 presidential election.

Trump, who has himself been repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct and racism, argued, “If the three failing pols were Republicans, far stronger action would be taken.”

Lawmakers spent much of Wednesday, and well into Wednesday night, privately considering how to respond to the wave of allegations and accusations that threaten to cripple much of the state’s political leadership. With regard to Herring, many Democratic officials suggested that they would take their cue from the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, which earlier called for Northam’s resignation but remained publicly silent through Wednesday’s maelstrom of developments.

And Republicans, who stand to benefit politically from the turmoil surrounding three of the state’s leading Democrats, were relatively muted under the chaotic circumstances. The Republican Party of Virginia, which previously demanded Northam’s resignation, called Wednesday for Herring’s, but many GOP lawmakers rebuffed requests for comment.

The crisis engulfing Democrats grew worse Wednesday when Herring, who was elected attorney general in 2013 and had been expected to mount a viable campaign for governor in 2021, said that, as an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia in 1980, he and friends “dressed up and put on wigs and brown makeup” for a party.

Herring’s disclosure came just days after he called for Northam to quit. The attorney general said Wednesday that “honest conversations and discussions will make it clear whether I can or should continue to serve as attorney general.”

But Democrats and Republicans alike were struggling more broadly about how to respond to the sexual assault allegation against Fairfax, the lieutenant governor, who has denied any wrongdoing.

In a statement Wednesday, Tyson provided a detailed account of her encounter with Fairfax in 2004, saying that he had forced her to perform oral sex on him.

“I never gave any form of consent,” said Tyson, whose searing statement recounted a violent attack.

Fairfax, also seen as a contender for governor in 2021, acknowledged what he described as a “consensual encounter” but suggested that Tyson had misrepresented what occurred.

“I take this situation very seriously and continue to believe Dr. Tyson should be treated with respect,” he said in a statement Wednesday. “But I cannot agree to a description of events that simply is not true.”

Some leading Virginia Democrats, though, began to distance themselves from Fairfax, suggesting that his political standing could erode quickly.

Rep. Jennifer Wexton wrote on Twitter: “I believe Dr. Vanessa Tyson.”

And Rep. Bobby Scott said that he had known Tyson as a friend for about a decade and that she “deserves the opportunity to have her story heard.”

Late Wednesday, aides to Scott confirmed that in late December 2017 or early January 2018, Tyson told him that she had made an allegation of sexual assault against Fairfax, in the course of notifying Scott that she had given his name as a character reference to The Washington Post, which was investigating the allegation. (The Post did not publish a story at the time because it could not corroborate any of the accounts.)

RICHMOND, Va. — The political crisis in Virginia intensified Thursday as several leading Democratic presidential candidates called for an investigation into a woman’s sexual assault allegations against Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax, a Democrat, saying they thought her account was credible.

Norment, 72, emerged from a caucus meeting of Senate Republicans just before 1:30, but ignored questions about the VMI yearbook from dozens of reporters who followed him to the Senate chamber where the Capitol police ushered him in.

He was in a more jovial mood on Wednesday night, when he encountered reporters after the revelations about Herring and Fairfax and joked that he may be governor before long, though he is not the first Republican in the line of succession.

“Our diverse commonwealth has been deeply shaken by these developments, but nonetheless remains economically vibrant, fiscally sound, safe and secure,” Kirk Cox, the Republican speaker of the House of Delegates — and a possible governor, under extraordinary circumstances — said in a statement. “We have weathered the storms of four centuries and will weather this one as well.”

Although two of the Democratic officials — Gov. Ralph Northam, who on Saturday admitted to using blackface in 1984, and Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax, who has been accused of a sexual assault in 2004 — have indicated that they will not resign, Attorney General Mark Herring, also a Democrat, has suggested that he could quit after acknowledging Wednesday that he, too, had once worn blackface.

At midday Thursday, the allegations involving racist history spread to Republicans for the first time when The Virginian-Pilot reported that the Senate majority leader, Thomas K. Norment Jr., helped oversee a Virginia Military Institute yearbook that featured racist photographs and slurs, including blackface.

Norment, who has been a state senator since 1992, was managing editor of the yearbook, called The Bomb, in 1968, the Pilot reported. The paper said that on one page of the yearbook, a student poses in blackface at a party, while another page features a photograph of two men in blackface holding a football.

Some in Northam’s circle are hoping to have the spouses of the three Democrats begin talking in an effort to alleviate tensions between the leaders at a time of unremitting scrutiny.

Nationally, Democrats proceeded gingerly on the accusations that a California professor, Dr. Vanessa C. Tyson, leveled against Fairfax, stating that her claims should be taken seriously but calling for an investigation rather than Fairfax’s resignation.

Fairfax, who has regularly stopped to speak with reporters in recent days, rushed through the State Capitol on Thursday morning. Ignoring questions about Tyson, he said only that he was headed to a Senate session and that he had spoken with Northam.

Norment, a powerful Republican, emerged from a caucus meeting of Senate Republicans just before 1:30, but ignored questions about the VMI yearbook from dozens of reporters who followed him to the Senate chamber where the Capitol police ushered him in.

Sharpton, appearing at the hastily arranged discussion at Virginia Union, called forcefully for Northam and Herring to resign, saying, “If you sin, you must repent for the sin.”

Northam, under siege since Friday, when a racist photograph on his medical school yearbook page was revealed, was silent and secluded. Northam initially admitted that he had appeared in the yearbook in either blackface or a Ku Klux Klan robe, and apologized to the people of Virginia, but the next day he reversed his position. At the same time, he acknowledged a separate episode when he had worn blackface.

Virginia Mulls Misdeeds of Its Leaders and Braces for More Turmoil

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia braced on Thursday for sustained political upheaval as the crisis of personal conduct that has engulfed the state government’s three leading officials showed no sign of ending.

Some in Northam’s circle are hoping to have the spouses of the three Democrats begin talking to in an effort to alleviate tensions between the leaders at a time of unremitting scrutiny.

“I thought her story was deeply disturbing and credible so there must be an investigation,” Sen. Kirsten Gilibrand, a 2020 presidential candidate who was one of the first major Democrats to call for the ouster of former Sen. Al Franken, said on a podcast Wednesday night.

Northam, whose staff and political advisers have been working around the clock since this story erupted on Friday afternoon, has hired a Washington-based communications firm led by African-Americans. The company’s chairman, Jarvis C. Stewart, was hoping to sit down Thursday with the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has come to Richmond to discuss racial reconciliation at Virginia Union University.

Fairfax rushed through the State Capitol on Thursday morning. Ignoring questions about Tyson, he said only that he was headed to a Senate session and that he had spoken with Northam.

Norment, a powerful Republican, emerged from a caucus meeting of Senate Republicans just before 1:30 p.m. ET, but ignored questions about the VMI yearbook from dozens of reporters who followed him to the Senate chamber.

Although two of the Democratic officials — Gov. Ralph Northam, who Saturday admitted to using blackface in 1984, and Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax, who has been accused of a sexual assault in 2004 — have indicated that they will not resign, Attorney General Mark Herring, also a Democrat, has suggested that he could quit after acknowledging Wednesday that he, too, had once worn blackface.

On Thursday morning, Northam was planning to telephone the lieutenant governor and the attorney general to offer his best wishes about their own troubles, according to an adviser to the governor, who reaffirmed that he had no plans to step down.

And some in Northam’s circle are hoping to have the spouses of the three Democrats begin talking in an effort to alleviate tensions between the leaders at a time of unremitting scrutiny.

Northam, whose staff and political advisers have been working around the clock since this story erupted Friday afternoon, has hired a Washington-based communications firm led by African-Americans to help him weather the gravest challenge of his political career. The company’s chairman, Jarvis C. Stewart, was hoping to sit down Thursday with the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has come to Richmond to discuss racial reconciliation at Virginia Union University, an historically black college here.

Nationally, Democrats proceeded gingerly on the accusations that a California professor, Vanessa C. Tyson, leveled against Fairfax, stating that her claims should be taken seriously but calling for an investigation rather than Fairfax’s resignation.

The allegations involving racist history spread to Republicans for the first time Thursday, when The Virginian-Pilot reported that the Senate majority leader, Thomas K. Norment Jr., helped oversee a Virginia Military Institute yearbook that featured racist photographs and slurs, including blackface.

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia braced Thursday for sustained political upheaval as the crisis of personal conduct that has engulfed the state government’s three leading officials showed no sign of ending.

Herring’s disclosure, made first in a meeting with black lawmakers and then in a public statement, came just days after he called for Northam to quit. The attorney general said Wednesday that “honest conversations and discussions will make it clear whether I can or should continue to serve as attorney general.”

The governor, who has not been seen in public since Sunday morning, has signaled that he intends to remain in office.

“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,” Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, said in a statement Friday evening.

“I am ready to do the hard work of regaining your trust,” he said in a video later released on Twitter, adding that he was committed to fighting for Virginians “through the remainder of my term.”

Northam issued his statement hours after the photograph — which was included on his 1984 yearbook page from Eastern Virginia Medical School and appeared alongside other pictures of himself — became public. Neither person in the black-and-white photograph was identified, and Northam, a pediatric neurologist who was elected Virginia’s governor in 2017, did not confirm which costume he had worn.

He faced intense pressure Friday night to step down, including calls from five Democratic presidential candidates: Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Julián Castro, the former mayor of San Antonio.

Calls for his resignation also came from Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP; Mayor Levar Stoney of Richmond; at least three Democratic members of the state’s congressional delegation, Reps. Donald McEachin, Abigail Spanberger and Elaine Luria; and the Democratic state House and Senate caucuses

McEachin, who is African-American, said he was “deeply disappointed and dismayed by the horrific picture of Governor Northam that surfaced today.”

“Virginia has a particularly sordid history with racism from the first enslaved Africans on our shores, to the capital of the Confederacy to massive resistance to the struggles African-American Virginians face today,” he said in a statement.

The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus initially stopped just short of demanding his resignation, but after meeting with the governor, it said, “It is time for him to resign, so that Virginia can begin the process of healing.”

“What has been revealed is disgusting, reprehensible, and offensive. We feel complete betrayal,” the caucus said in an earlier statement, adding that “these pictures rip off the scabs of an excruciatingly painful history and are a piercing reminder of this nation’s sins.”

Virginia’s two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine — former governors themselves — gently nudged Northam toward the exits, issuing simultaneous statements urging him to reflect on how to move forward. Northam’s predecessor, Terry McAuliffe, was more direct, saying that the governor’s situation had become “untenable” and that it was time for him to resign.

The chairman of the state Republican Party, Jack Wilson, called for the governor’s resignation and condemned the picture as “wholly inappropriate” before Northam admitted he was in it.

Some Virginia Democrats defended Northam and said he should not quit.

“The picture was in extremely poor taste, no question about that, but his life since then has been anything but,” said Richard Saslaw, the Democratic leader of the Virginia Senate. “He’s had a career of helping people of all races.”

Saslaw said the governor should “obviously apologize” but, alluding to the members of the state House and Senate, he added: “Which of the 140 of us would want to have revealed what we were doing in our early to mid-20s?”

In his written statement, Northam said the photograph “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.”

Later, CBS News, citing a 1981 Virginia Military Institute yearbook, reported that Northam had been known as “Coonman” as an undergraduate student there. The governor has not addressed the nickname, which contains a racial slur.

If Northam were to resign, Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax would assume the governor’s office. Fairfax, a Democrat, was the second black person to be elected to statewide office in Virginia. Northam spoke to the lieutenant governor Friday before he issued his apology, according to a Virginia Democrat familiar with the conversation.

The lieutenant governor did not immediately comment Friday.

But in his statement, Northam signaled that he did not intend to cede power to Fairfax.

“I recognize that it will take time and serious effort to heal the damage this conduct has caused,” he said. “I am ready to do that important work. The first step is to offer my sincerest apology and to state my absolute commitment to living up to the expectations Virginians set for me when they elected me to be their governor.”

Even if Northam defies the sudden crush of pressure to quit, he will not face any immediate electoral repercussions. Virginia bars governors from serving two consecutive terms, and both of the state’s U.S. senators are Democrats, leaving his political options limited.

Still, the news of the yearbook image, which the website Big League Politics first reported Friday, could undermine Northam’s authority in Richmond and tarnish his tenure, which, just more than a year in, has been marked by several accomplishments on Democratic priorities.

Northam rode to victory in 2017, when he soundly defeated Ed Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, thanks to the suburban backlash against President Donald Trump. Virginia Democrats nearly reclaimed control of the state House the same year. Their success prompted Republicans to finally give up their opposition to Medicaid expansion and the measure passed with bipartisan support, offering the governor a signature accomplishment.

Then Northam announced last year that Amazon had selected Arlington County, just outside Washington, for one of its new facilities as part of its “HQ2” search, bringing the promise of thousands of new jobs and revenue to the state.

The Amazon news was especially sweet for state leaders because it let them further burnish the state’s image as a progressive beacon in the South and a leader in the new economy.

But Northam abruptly became a polarizing figure this week when, amid a debate about abortion access in Virginia, he gave a radio interview that led to accusations that he supported infanticide.

Asked in the interview about a proposal to allow abortion in the final trimester to protect the health of the mother, the governor said late-term abortions would be permissible in cases of severe deformities or nonviable fetuses, and described a situation in which such an infant would be delivered, and then a “discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

Republicans immediately argued that Northam was willing to support an infant’s killing after birth. Northam disputed that characterization, writing on Twitter, “I have devoted my life to caring for children and any insinuation otherwise is shameful and disgusting.”

Northam earned his medical degree from Eastern Virginia Medical School before completing residencies elsewhere. He settled in the Norfolk area, where he practiced pediatric neurology at a children’s hospital. He also joined the faculty of his medical school, where, according to his official biography, he taught medicine and ethics.

Northam was a largely apolitical doctor before being elected to the state Senate in 2007. He voted twice for George W. Bush before running for the Legislature as a Democrat.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/us/politics/ralph-northam-yearbook-blackface.html" id="f2c01380-58b4-327f-aca1-15ed79436fb0">The New York Times</a>.

Virginia Governor Admits He Was in Racist Photo

Virginia’s governor acknowledged Friday that he was photographed more than 30 years ago in a costume that was “clearly racist and offensive” — admitting that he had dressed either as a member of the Ku Klux Klan or in blackface — but resisted a flood of calls for his resignation from national and state Democrats.

He faced intensifying bipartisan pressure Friday night to step down, including calls from five Democratic presidential candidates: Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Julián Castro, the former mayor of San Antonio.

But Northam suggested that he would try to remain in office.

Calls for his resignation also came from Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP; Mayor Levar Stoney of Richmond; and three Democratic members of the state’s congressional delegation, Reps. Donald McEachin, Abigail Spanberger and Elaine Luria; and the Democratic state House caucus.

“The picture was in extremely poor taste, no question about that, but his life since then has been anything but,” said Richard Saslaw, the Democratic leader of the Virginia Senate.

Saslaw added: “Which of the 140 of us would want to have revealed what we were doing in our early to mid-20s?”

Virginia’s governor acknowledged Friday that he was photographed more than 30 years ago in a costume that was “clearly racist and offensive” — admitting that he had dressed either as a member of the Ku Klux Klan or in blackface — but resisted mounting calls for his resignation.

“It doesn’t matter if he is a Republican or a Democrat,” Castro said. “This behavior was racist and unconscionable. Governor Northam should resign.”

But Northam, who was already facing scrutiny from conservatives this week because of his comments about abortion access in the state, suggested that he would try to remain in office.

Virginia’s two Democratic senators, Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine — former governors themselves — gently nudged Northam toward the exits, issuing simultaneous statements urging him to reflect on how to move forward. Northam’s predecessor, Terry McAuliffe, was more direct, saying that the governor’s situation had become “untenable” and that it was time for him to resign.

“We feel complete betrayal,” the caucus said in an earlier statement, adding that “these pictures rip off the scabs of an excruciatingly painful history and are a piercing reminder of this nation’s sins.”

In his statement, Northam said the photograph “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.”

“But I want to be clear,” he said, “I understand how this decision shakes Virginians’ faith in that commitment.”

After the governor issued his statement, CBS News, citing a 1981 Virginia Military Institute yearbook, reported that Northam had been known as “Coonman” as an undergraduate student there. The governor has not addressed the nickname, which contains a racial slur.

“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,” Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, said in a statement Friday evening. “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. But I want to be clear, I understand how this decision shakes Virginians’ faith in that commitment.”

Northam issued his statement hours after the photograph, which was included on his 1984 medical school yearbook page and appeared alongside other pictures of Northam, became public. Neither person in the black-and-white photograph was identified, and Northam, who was elected Virginia’s governor in 2017, did not confirm which costume he had worn.

He faced intensifying bipartisan pressure Friday night to step down, including calls from three Democratic presidential candidates: Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Julián Castro, the former mayor of San Antonio. But Northam suggested that he would try to remain in office.

Virginia’s two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, issued simultaneous statements urging him to reflect on how to move forward.

Derrick Johnson, NAACP president, also called on Northam to resign, saying on Twitter: “Black face in any manner is always racist and never okay.”

Some Virginia Democrats, though, defended Northam and said he should not quit.

But, Saslaw said, alluding to the members of the state Legislature, "Which of the 140 of us would want to have revealed what we were doing in our early to mid-20s?”

Virginia’s governor acknowledged Friday that he was photographed more than 30 years ago in a costume that was “clearly racist and offensive” — admitting that he had dressed either as a member of the Ku Klux Klan or in blackface — but resisted calls for his resignation.

Virginia Governor Admits He Was in Photo Showing Men in Blackface and KKK Attire

Virginia’s two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine — former governors themselves — gently nudged Northam toward the exits, issuing simultaneous statements urging him to reflect on how to move forward.

Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, also called on Northam to resign, saying on Twitter: “Black face in any manner is always racist and never okay.”

But there was no immediate consensus in the Virginia capital, Richmond. The chairman of the state Republican Party, Jack Wilson, condemned the picture as “wholly inappropriate” even before Northam issued his statement and called for the governor’s resignation if he was, in fact, in the photograph.

If Northam were to resign, Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax would assume the governor’s office. Fairfax, a Democrat, was the second black person to be elected to statewide office in Virginia, and Northam spoke to the lieutenant governor Friday before he issued his apology, according to a Virginia Democrat familiar with the conversation.

Still, the news of the yearbook image, which the website Big League Politics first reported Friday, could undermine Northam’s authority in Richmond and tarnish his tenure, which, just more than a year in, has been marked by a number of accomplishments on Democratic priorities.

Then Northam announced last year that Amazon had selected Arlington, just outside Washington, for one of its new facilities as part of its “HQ2” search, bringing the promise of thousands of new jobs and revenue to the state.

Northam earned his medical degree from Eastern Virginia before completing residencies elsewhere. But he returned to the Norfolk area, where he practiced pediatric neurology at a children’s hospital. He also joined the faculty of his medical school, where, according to his official biography, he taught medicine and ethics.

“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,” Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement Friday evening. “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. But I want to be clear, I understand how this decision shakes Virginians’ faith in that commitment.”

Northam issued his statement hours after the photograph, which was included on his 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook page, became public. Neither person in the black-and-white photograph was identified, and Northam, who was elected Virginia’s governor in 2017, did not confirm which costume he had worn.

The Republican Party of Virginia condemned the photograph before Northam issued his statement.

“Racism has no place in Virginia,” Jack Wilson, the state party chairman, said in a statement. “These pictures are wholly inappropriate. If Governor Northam appeared in blackface or dressed in a KKK robe, he should resign immediately.”

But Virginia Democrats defended Northam and said he should not quit.

“The picture was in extremely poor taste, no question about that, but his life since then has been anything but,” said Richard Saslaw, the Democratic leader of the state Senate. “He’s had a career of helping people of all races.”

If Northam were to resign, Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax would assume the governor’s office.

But in his statement Friday, Northam signaled that he did not intend to leave office.

“There are more drunks than old doctors in this world so I think I’ll have another beer,” reads the section of the Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook, which also identified Northam’s undergraduate alma mater as Virginia Military Institute and his medical interest as pediatrics.

If Northam were to resign, Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax would assume the governor’s office. Fairfax, a Democrat, was the second black person to be elected to statewide office in Virginia.

Even if Northam defies what could quickly become a crush of pressure to quit, he will not face any immediate electoral repercussions. Virginia bars governors from serving two consecutive terms, and both of the state’s U.S. senators are Democrats, leaving his political options limited.

<h1>RICHMOND, Va. — The political tumult in Virginia widened Thursday as the state Senate’s top Republican faced an onslaught of questions about racist photographs and slurs in a college yearbook that he helped oversee, transforming the Capitol’s nearly week-old crisis into a bipartisan reckoning over personal conduct.</h1>

As Norment sought to defuse the fresh controversy, Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax, a Democrat, faced mounting calls from leading members of his party for an investigation into a woman’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her in 2004. Several high-profile Democrats, including some 2020 presidential candidates and members of Virginia’s congressional delegation, said they believed the woman’s account was credible.

Northam, who has been out of public view since Sunday, called Fairfax and Herring on Thursday. It was the first conversation between the governor and the lieutenant governor since Saturday.

This article originally appeared in <a id="9748c9a2-5927-439f-a588-2c81acc12bf4" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/us/virginia-democrats-crisis-blackface.html">The New York Times</a>.

The senator, Thomas Norment, who is the majority leader, was the managing editor of the 1968 Virginia Military Institute yearbook, which included images of students in blackface.

Virginia political crisis grows for Democrats and Republicans

<h1>“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,” Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, said in a statement Friday evening.</h1>

In a subsequent video, Northam said he was “ready to do the hard work of regaining your trust” and was committed to staying in office “through the remainder of my term.”

Northam issued his statement hours after the photograph — which was included on his 1984 yearbook page from Eastern Virginia Medical School and appeared alongside other pictures of himself — became public. Neither person in the black-and-white photograph was identified, and Northam, a pediatric neurologist, did not confirm which costume he had worn.

He faced intense pressure Friday night to step down, as Democrats moved swiftly to send a zero-tolerance message to a governor whose 2017 election marked the party’s most significant victory since losing the White House.

The first calls came from Democratic presidential candidates, some of whom had traveled to Virginia to campaign with Northam just over a year ago. By the end of the night, Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Julián Castro, the former mayor of San Antonio, had all urged Northam to resign.

In Virginia, Mayor Levar Stoney of Richmond and three Democratic members of the state’s congressional delegation, Reps. Donald McEachin, Abigail Spanberger and Elaine Luria, urged Northam to step down.

But by the end of the night, even after Northam called leading Virginia Democrats to apologize, many in the state were dispensing with subtlety.

Former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Northam’s immediate predecessor and a potential White House candidate, said that his onetime ticketmate was in an “untenable” position and that it was time for him to resign. And after holding a late-night conference call, the Virginia state House and Senate caucuses said the same, effectively rendering him without allies in the state Capitol.

Initially, some Virginia Democrats defended Northam and said he should not quit.

In his written statement, Northam attempted to make the same case, stating that the photograph “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.”

But he sustained another blow when CBS News, citing a 1981 Virginia Military Institute yearbook, reported that Northam had been known as “Coonman” as an undergraduate student there. The governor has not addressed the nickname, which contains a racial slur.

Alan Blinder and Jonathan Martin

Articles written by the author

Virginia Political Crisis Grows for Democrats and Republicans

Virginia Political Crisis Grows for Democrats and Republicans

Virginia Political Crisis Grows for Democrats and Republicans

Virginia Political Crisis Grows for Democrats and Republicans

Virginia Political Crisis Grows for Democrats and Republicans

Virginia Mulls Misdeeds of Its Leaders and Braces for More Turmoil

Virginia Mulls Misdeeds of Its Leaders and Braces for More Turmoil

Virginia Mulls Misdeeds of Its Leaders and Braces for More Turmoil

Virginia Mulls Misdeeds of Its Leaders and Braces for More Turmoil

Virginia Mulls Misdeeds of Its Leaders and Braces for More Turmoil

Virginia Governor Admits He Was in Racist Photo

Virginia Governor Admits He Was in Racist Photo

Virginia Governor Admits He Was in Racist Photo

Virginia Governor Admits He Was in Photo Showing Men in Blackface and KKK Attire

Virginia Governor Admits He Was in Photo Showing Men in Blackface and KKK Attire

Virginia Governor Admits He Was in Photo Showing Men in Blackface and KKK Attire

Virginia Governor Admits He Was in Photo Showing Men in Blackface and KKK Attire

Virginia political crisis grows for Democrats and Republicans

Virginia governor admits he was in racist photo