Virginia Is in Turmoil and Here's a Breakdown of Seven Days of Scandal

There was an apology, a reversal and an admission about blackface. A sexual assault allegation was made, and an emphatic denial was made in response. Then came another admission about blackface.

Last week, the clouds began to gather over Virginia Gov. Ralph S. Northam, 59, a physician and Army veteran who was elected to be Virginia’s governor last year and won the widest victory for a Democratic candidate for governor in the state in decades. Now, a storm of scandals has engulfed him, his lieutenant governor, Justin E. Fairfax, and Attorney General Mark R. Herring, all Democrats, as well as Thomas K. Norment Jr., the Republican majority leader in the Virginia Senate.

The blackface revelations revived painful memories of Virginia’s disturbing racial history: centuries of slavery, decades of segregation and racial inequalities that still persist. The state was roiled in 2017 when a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville erupted into deadly violence. And the sexual assault allegation came on the heels of the #MeToo movement led by survivors of assault and harassment.

Here is a look at the last week’s events in Richmond, Virginia’s capital:

Day 1

Last Friday, Big League Politics, an obscure, right-wing media outlet, published Northam’s medical school yearbook page from 1984. (The report came two days after Northam had angered some conservatives when he discussed late-term abortions during a radio interview.)

A photograph on the yearbook page showed two people: one dressed in a Ku Klux Klan robe, and the other in blackface. Northam apologized — first in a statement and then in a video — and acknowledged that he was in the photograph. A flood of Democratic officials, including members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus and several 2020 presidential contenders, condemned the photograph and called for Northam to step down.

Amid speculation about a possible resignation, more people began to focus on Northam’s designated successor, Fairfax, 39, the second African-American ever to win a statewide election in Virginia. (Fairfax ran separately from Northam during the Democratic primaries for lieutenant governor and governor. Northam did not choose Fairfax as his running mate.)

Day 2

At an extraordinary news conference Saturday, Northam reversed course and said that he was “definitely not” in that yearbook picture and did not plan to step down. The governor said he wanted to have “an honest conversation about racial justice,” and he called the yearbook photo of the two men “offensive, racist and despicable.”

But he added that he did darken his face with shoe polish for a Michael Jackson costume in a dance contest in Texas in 1984. And in an awkward moment that seemed to further undermine his standing, he appeared ready to grant a reporter’s request to demonstrate his “moonwalk.”

His sudden reversal was not convincing to most Democrats, including the state’s two U.S. senators, who urged him to step down.

In a statement, Fairfax said that “at this critical and defining moment in the history of Virginia and this nation, we need leaders with the ability to unite and help us rise to the better angels of our nature.” He did not directly call for the governor to resign. But Herring, the state’s attorney general, did call for Northam’s resignation Saturday.

Day 3

On Sunday, Northam attended church on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, in his only public appearance since the scandal broke. Later, Big League Politics again created a stir, publishing an allegation by a woman who said that she had been sexually assaulted by a campaign staffer she had met at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. At that time, Fairfax had been working as an aide to John Edwards, who was then a senator and the Democratic vice presidential candidate.

Day 4

On Monday, The Washington Post reported that the woman had contacted the newspaper with the allegation shortly after Fairfax won his election in 2017. The Post said it was unable to corroborate her allegations, and Fairfax emphatically denied them. At different points during the day, he hinted that Northam or Levar Stoney, the mayor of Richmond and a potential political rival, might have played a role in bringing the accusation to light.

He also said that he and the woman had a “100 percent consensual” sexual encounter in 2004. He said that the woman had subsequently called him, saying she wanted him to meet her mother, and that he did not recall seeing her again after their initial encounter.

Day 5

On Tuesday, it appeared that Northam still intended to keep his seat, hoping to clear his name. People close to him said he might hire a private investigator to learn more about the yearbook photograph, and he received support from nine of his medical school classmates who wrote a letter saying they did not believe Northam had “ever engaged in, promoted, tolerated, or condoned racism.”

Day 6

In a week of head-turning news in the Capitol, Herring, the attorney general elected in 2013, provided some more: He said that he, too, had once worn blackface.

Herring, 57, said in a statement that he and friends “put on wigs and brown makeup” for a party in 1980, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, and that he was dressed as rapper Kurtis Blow. “That I have contributed to the pain Virginians have felt this week is the greatest shame I have ever felt,” he added.

Hours later, the woman who had accused Fairfax of sexual assault came forward with more details.

The woman identified herself as Vanessa C. Tyson, an associate professor of politics and expert in black history at Scripps College in California. She said that after she met Fairfax at the 2004 convention, she had an encounter with him that began with consensual kissing but quickly turned into an episode of forced oral sex.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Fairfax called Tyson’s account “painful” to read but denied that he had assaulted her. “I take this situation very seriously and continue to believe Tyson should be treated with respect,” he said. “But, I cannot agree to a description of events that simply is not true.”

Day 7

On Thursday morning, President Donald Trump said in a tweet that “Democrats at the top are killing the Great State of Virginia,” predicting that the state would turn red in 2020.

But allegations involving past racist behavior spread to Republicans when it emerged that Thomas K. Norment, 72, the majority leader in the state Senate, was a top editor of a 1968 college yearbook that included several photographs of students in blackface as well as racist slurs. The Virginian-Pilot first reported on the yearbook Thursday.

“I cannot endorse or associate myself with every photo, entry, or word on each page,” Norment said, adding that he condemned the use of blackface.

It remained unclear how these crises of personal conduct would affect state leadership. On Thursday, statements from Democrats seemed to suggest that Fairfax was in more political peril than Herring.

The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus said the allegations against Fairfax were “troubling,” and that it would “await further action” on the part of Herring to reassure citizens. Virginia’s congressional Democrats said they were “deeply disturbed” by the allegations against Fairfax, while Herring “must stand ready to answer questions from the public if he is to regain their trust.”

Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. Kamala Harris and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand described Tyson’s claims as “credible” and called for an inquiry or investigation.

Northam, meanwhile, still seemed determined to hold onto his job.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.