Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax sees an upside to the sexual assault allegations plaguing him.
The 40-year-old Democrat said Thursday that he has a positive outlook on the future and is “thinking very seriously” about running for governor in 2021, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Fairfax is facing a pair of sexual assault allegations but said that the publicity from the scandal is helping his political career.
“Many people a year ago would not have recognized me, now they really do,” Fairfax said during a Thursday roundtable with reporters. “People come up to me at gas stations, they say, ‘Hey, we recognize you. We love you. We know what they are saying about you is false.'”
Fairfax has been accused by two women of sexual assault. The first said he raped her in 2000 while the two attended Duke University. The second woman said Fairfax forced her to perform oral sex while at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
Fairfax denies the allegations and said a polygraph test he took showed that he was being truthful.
The Fairfax scandal came around the same time that Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam faced blowback after it was revealed that his 1984 medical school yearbook page contained a photo of a man in blackface standing beside a man in a KKK outfit.
If Fairfax runs for Virginia governor in 2021, he’ll likely face fierce competition for the Democratic nomination. That includes Attorney General Mark Herring, who, in the midst of the Fairfax and Northam scandals, admitted he wore blackface to a party in college. And former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe is eyeing a return to the governor’s office in the 2021 elections.
