Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax compared himself to lynching victims as the embattled official faces sexual assault allegations.
Fairfax, who is black, referenced the state’s racist past and lynchings of African-Americans in a surprise speech Sunday before the Senate adjourned its 2019 legislative session, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
“If we go backwards in a rush to judgment, and we allow for political lynchings without any due process, any facts, any evidence being heard, then I think we do a disservice to this very body in which we all serve,” the Democrat said.
The state’s Republican leaders announced two days earlier that they would hold committee hearings where the two women accusing him of sexual misconduct could share their allegations.
An attorney for Meredith Watson, who alleges Fairfax raped her in 2000 when they were classmates at Duke University, said she will testify.
Watson’s attorney said she was under the impression that Fairfax’s other accuser, Vanessa Tyson, who claims the Virginia lawmaker forced her to perform oral sex in 2004, would also share her story.
The allegations against Fairfax surfaced weeks ago as he appeared set to take over the governorship when Gov. Ralph Northam was under immense pressure to step down when he admitted to wearing blackface decades ago.
Fairfax’s comments Sunday echo those made by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in his 1991 confirmation hearing, when he was accused by Anita Hill of sexual harassment. Thomas referred to his treatment as a “high-tech lynching.”
