Three separate simultaneous scandals engulfing Democrats holding the top statewide positions in Virginia’s government is not only throwing a crucial state into chaos, but it is challenging national Democrats to choose between their stated values on women and race and their most cynical political calculations.
Let me make a paltry attempt to summarize for those just tuning in. Last week, Gov. Ralph Northam was forced to apologize for a photo on his medical school yearbook page featuring two people, one in a KKK costume and the other in blackface. At the time, he seemed expendable, because the next person in line was Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, a young African-American who would seem to be a perfect choice to heal the state in the wake of the scandal. But it turned out that a woman, who we now know to be accomplished college professor Vanessa Tyson, accused Fairfax of sexually assaulting her at the 2004 Democratic Convention. As much of a disaster as this was, it seemed the worst-case scenario was that Democrats had a fallback plan in the next person in line of succession — Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring. But it turns out that Herring wore blackface.
