Former Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe predicted Sunday his lieutenant governor and successor, Gov. Ralph Northam, will soon step down due to the controversy over a racist photo.
“Once that picture with the blackface and the klansman came out, there is no way you can continue to be the governor of the commonwealth of Virginia,” McAuliffe said Sunday during an interview with CNN. “We all have made mistakes. Ralph will do the right thing for the commonwealth of Virginia. He will put Virginia first, and I think that will happen relatively soon.”
Northam faces increasing pressure to resign after a racist photo from his 1984 medical school yearbook page emerged late last week, depicting a man in blackface and another wearing Ku Klux Klan robes and hood. The governor and pediatric neurologist originally apologized for the image, but later backtracked and said he doesn’t believe he is in the photograph. He did, however, admit he wore blackface when he dressed up as Michael Jackson for a dance competition during that same year. He has reiterated his intention to serve the remainder of his term.
McAuliffe last week called Northam’s position in the governor’s mansion “untenable,” describing the predicament as “heartbreaking,” in a pair of tweets.
The situation that he has put himself and the Commonwealth of Virginia in is untenable. It’s time for Ralph to step down, and for the Commonwealth to move forward.
— Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) February 2, 2019
McAuliffe, who is openly considering a 2020 bid for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, told CNN on Sunday he would “like to” run for the White House. He told MSNBC earlier this month he was 50 percent committed to a campaign. The former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and National Governors Association has repeatedly said he would decide by March 31.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that Gov. Northam is still a pediatric neurologist
