The Democratic Governors Association won’t ask embattled Democrats Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax or Attorney General Mark Herring to resign their posts in Virginia, even after maintaining that Gov. Ralph Northam should step down following a blackface scandal that has roiled the commonwealth.
“Obviously very disappointing and challenging set of circumstances in Virginia,” said association Chairwoman Gina Raimondo, who is also governor of Rhode Island, in answer to a question by the Washington Examiner about what should happen in Virginia, where Fairfax faces allegations of sexual assault and Herring, like Northam, has admitted to appearing in blackface.
The next in line for the top job in Virginia is a Republican, Virginia House Speaker Kirk Cox.
“DGA swiftly called for Gov. Northam’s resignation, which was a somewhat unprecedented move by the DGA, but we felt that in light of the circumstances was appropriate and stand by that,” she said. “The situation in Virginia is very fluid … and at this point it’s up to the people of Virginia and the citizens of Virginia to decide what the best moves are for that state in terms of their leadership going forward.”
[Related: Virginia governor’s yearbook page features photo of men in KKK robe, blackface]
Raimondo was answering questions at a press conference Saturday at the National Governors Association’s winter meeting in Washington, D.C., where she appeared beside 13 other Democratic governors. Northam was not among them, and the press conference was intended to highlight the party’s priorities and the victories waged electorally in November, in which the Democrats flipped seven governor’s seat.
Northam faced widespread calls for his resignation from members of his party after a picture surfaced in the personal page of his 1984 medical school yearbook showing one person wearing blackface and another dressed up as a Ku Klux Klan member. Northam has insisted he isn’t either person in the picture but has admitted to wearing blackface during a dance competition in which he impersonated Michael Jackson.
Shortly after the photo surfaced, the Democratic Governors Association called for Northam to step down.
“The photo of Ralph Northam’s yearbook that surfaced yesterday is both racist and inexcusable,” Raimondo and Vice Chairman Phil Murphy, who is also governor of New Jersey, said in a statement at the time. “It is time for Gov. Northam to step aside and allow Virginia to move forward.”
But the group hasn’t issued a formal statement following other incidents that unfolded involving Virginia’s first and second in line for the governor’s seat. The same was true for other Democratic leaders, as well as Democrats running for the presidential nomination, who have otherwise adopted a zero-tolerance policy in dealing with racism or accusations of sexual assault.
Fairfax, the lieutenant governor, has faced two allegations of sexual assault that he denies, and Herring, who is attorney general and the third-ranking elected official in Virginia, has acknowledged he wore blackface when he was in college.
None of the officials has said he would step down.
[Read more: Justin Fairfax accusers set to testify against him in Kavanaugh-style televised hearings]
