Former Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder is seeking “answers” from fellow Democrat Terry McAuliffe about reversing his condemnation of the state’s current Democratic leaders during blackface and sexual assault scandals — all while blocking black candidates from securing the Democratic gubernatorial nomination by seeking a second nonconsecutive term as governor.
Wilder, who was the first-ever black politician to be elected governor of a U.S. state in 1989, wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday about McAuliffe’s previous condemnations of current Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam and Democratic Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax.
“No reasons have been given to the voters as to Terry’s change of mind,” Wilder said.
McAuliffe in 2019 joined widespread calls for Northam to resign amid national attention and scandal over the revelation of a 1984 medical yearbook photo on his page that showed a man in blackface and a man in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. He also called on Fairfax to resign over sexual assault allegations that emerged around the same time.
“Is what Northam and Herring did … alright by any standard?” Wilder asked. “Or does this suggest that if you’re a Black person in Virginia, if you’ve got to think about who you are going to vote for then ‘you ain’t Black.’”
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Northam endorsed McAuliffe earlier this year.
While seeking this year’s Democratic gubernatorial nomination against McAuliffe, Fairfax, who is black, accused McAuliffe of treating him like George Floyd, the black Minneapolis man whose May 2020 death after being held under the knee of a white police officer sparked international Black Lives Matter protests, and Emmett Till, a black 14-year-old who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955.
College professor Vanessa Tyson accused Fairfax of sexual assault at a hotel during the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Days later, Maryland woman Meredith Watson accused him of rape while they were at Duke University in 2000. Fairfax has said that he did have sexual relations with the women but that they were consensual, and some, including the Washington Post editorial board, have questioned the veracity of the allegations.
“Sacrifices beyond compare and description were made by those, mostly unnamed, unknown, regardless of race, to promote equality of opportunity and enhance possibilities,” Wilder said. “The statewide election this year in Virginia presents questions which require answers from those seeking to lead.”
Wilder has long been a critic of McAuliffe, previously taking issue with his decision to run for governor a second time.
Virginia’s state constitution prohibits governors from holding consecutive terms, and the only other governor to be elected to two nonconsecutive terms was Mills Godwin, who changed parties from Democratic to Republican between his two terms around five decades ago.
“There is a seeming advantage to those who have assembled power and influence while in office to leap frog from one administration to a same or similar; thus accomplishing the very thing that our constitution sought to prevent,” Wilder wrote in January. “The disadvantages to minority and women candidates speaks volumes.”
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In December, he warned that the 2021 elections in Virginia would be “laced with racial overtones.” McAuliffe, in a June primary, defeated two other black female candidates, Former state Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy and state Sen. Jennifer McClellan.
In a February WRVA radio interview, Wilder joked: “When I hear from the former governor, saying he’s going to come back with ‘bold leadership’ — well, when did he discover it? He needs to tell his party the elixir he found to be able to pour into their drink so they might be infused with this spirit of boldness.”
McAuliffe will face Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin, former co-CEO of the Carlyle Group private equity firm and a first-time candidate, in November’s election.
Wilder’s full statement is below:
