One week after a racist image was discovered on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s medical school yearbook page, the embattled Democratic governor is still in office and signaling that he isn’t going anywhere.
Northam faced immediate calls to resign from Republicans and Democrats once the picture was discovered. While he said he wasn’t in a picture of a person in blackface standing next to a person in a Ku Klux Klan robe, he said he had dressed in blackface while doing a Michael Jackson impression.
But one week later, a growing #MeToo scandal involving Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and another blackface scandal involving Attorney General Mark Herring seems to be making it more likely that Northam will survive.
Northam, Fairfax, and Herring are all Democrats, and if all three Democrats were removed, they’d be handing the governor’s seat to a Republican. The Washington Post reported Thursday that Democrats are taking their time trying to sift out how the dominoes should fall.
With each day, the state that was rocked by a shocking series of scandals may be getting used to it, another sign that Northam may be able to hang on.
The Post said Virginia business representatives aren’t pushing for Northam’s removal. A Democratic state senator, Chap Petersen, said he won’t ask Northam to resign.
Late Thursday, Politico reported that a Republican state senator, Richard Stuart, said Northam isn’t going anywhere.
“He understands he has to stand up and face this,” Stuart said. “He knows what he has to do. He’s staying.”
Meanwhile, Republicans may already be benefiting from the Democrats’ problems in Virginia. This week, Northam abandoned his push to boost statewide spending in a budget deal with the GOP.
It’s not clear whether Northam’s political problems prompted the deal, but Northam seemed most interested in showing he can govern.
“I am pleased we have reached an agreement on tax policy that is equitable for all Virginians and allows them to keep more of their paychecks,” Northam said, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
