A man claiming to be Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s medical school roommate said Sunday he doesn’t recognize the racist photo found in their 1984 yearbook which has prompted party-wide calls for Northam’s resignation.
“I was truly stunned. One, I didn’t recognize that picture, I didn’t know anyone in it and didn’t know where or when it was taken,” Rob Marsh told WWBT, an NBC affiliate in Richmond, Va.
The report said Marsh was the co-chairman of the social committee that sponsored the Halloween party that Northam did attend that year. Marsh said Northam did not wear blackface or the Ku Klux Klan robes that two men can be seen wearing in a photo that appears on Northam’s yearbook page.
“I was at the Halloween party the governor went to and I know what he was wearing exactly,” Marsh said, noting that Northam had dressed up as an attorney. “Ralph comes out and I remember he was dressed in a three-piece suit and he had a briefcase.”
Marsh, who claimed Northam was “thinner” than the people who appeared in the racist photo, said he and Northam have kept in contact and spoke on Saturday. Marsh said the photo was “out of character” for the Northam he knows. While he expressed confidence that the governor can bounce back from the controversy, Marsh said Northam will ultimately “do what he thinks is the best thing for the commonwealth of Virginia.”
The photo appeared on right-wing conservative website Big League Politics on Friday, and in the ensuing fallout, Democrats from Virginia and across the country called for Northam’s resignation.
Northam, who initially apologized for the photo on Friday, backtracked during a press conference Saturday by saying he didn’t think he was in the photo after speaking to family and former classmates about it. During that media event, Northam declined to resign. He also acknowledged that he wore blackface that same year to dress up as singer Michael Jackson for a talent show.
A source from Big League Politics told the Washington Post an ex-medical school classmate gave them a tip about the photo out of “anger“ over Northam’s recent comments about a bill that would loosen restrictions on abortions in Virginia.
Northam held an emergency meeting with top staffers and administration officials Sunday evening during the Super Bowl and is reportedly expected to make an announcement soon.
Should Northam resign, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, would take his place as governor.
