Virginia House Speaker Kirk Cox, a Republican, is the third in line to become governor — an unlikely rise in succession that has suddenly become more plausible as the top three Democratic officials in the state now face crippling controversy.
On Wednesday, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring admitted to wearing blackface at a college party in 1980. That stunning admission came after Virginia Gov. Mark Northam became embroiled in a controversy of his own related to a racist photo found in his 1984 medical school yearbook.
Northam so far has refused to bow to increasing pressure to resign over the controversy stemming from a photo showing one man dressed up in blackface and another in Ku Klux Klan garb. Northam denies he was in the photo, but did admit he wore blackface for a Michael Jackson costume in the 1980s.
Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax is also facing controversy after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2004. Fairfax has denied the allegation.
Fairfax and Herring are second and third in line to succeed Northam as governor. If all three should step aside, Cox would be next up to serve out Northam’s term, per Article 5, Section 16 of the Virginia Constitution.
Cox, 61, became speaker at the beginning of 2018 — a position he likely would have lost if not for a coin flip that decided a tied Virginia House election in 2017 and ultimately gave GOP control of the statehouse.
In recent days Cox called on Northam to resign, but declined a move to try to force the Democrat out of office.
“I think there’s a rightful hesitation about removal from office, because obviously you have to consider that to some degree you’re overturning an election,” he said Monday, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Cox is originally from Petersburg, Va., and attended James Madison University.
Cox has served in the statehouse since 1990. He served as majority leader from 2010 to 2018 and was majority whip beforehand.
The controversy swirling around Virginia’s top officials comes at a time when Democrats in the state are attempting to redraw gerrymandered district lines during the current session, but Cox and his Republican colleagues have argued the current lines are constitutional.
Politically, Cox is a moderate conservative focused on job creation and education reform.
He lists “Reducing Unnecessary Government Spending” among his top legislative priorities on his website.
“Kirk believes strongly that government should focus on the core functions of government and must live within its means,” the website reads. “Nowhere is this more evident than when he is working on the state budget.”
Cox is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and a State Budget Conferee and has worked to cut spending within the legislature itself.
He has voted in the past to ban so-called sanctuary cities in Virginia and cut off state funding of abortion services.
