Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam might be taking the final steps towards resignation as he faces intense pressure from within his own party to step aside after a racist photo was found in his medical school yearbook.
Northam held an emergency meeting with senior staff members and administration officials of color Sunday evening during the Super Bowl, according to multiple reports. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who would take over as governor in the event of a resignation, was not in attendance.
A source told NBC4 Washington an announcement was expected “soon,” but likely would not be made Sunday evening.
The photo that was published Friday on the right-wing conservative website Big League Politics came from the 1984 yearbook from Northam’s medical school, showing a man in blackface and a man wearing Ku Klux Klan robes.
Other news outlets quickly confirmed the existence of the photo.
Democrats in Virginia and across the nation quickly piled on Northam, urging him to resign. Notably, former Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe predicted Sunday morning on CNN that Northam — his lieutenant governor and successor — would “do the right thing for the commonwealth of Virginia. He will put Virginia first, and I think that will happen relatively soon.”
Other Democrats who called for Northam’s ouster included Hillary Clinton, and 2020 candidates such as Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif. Locally, the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus called on Northam to resign, as did the House Democratic Caucus and Virginia Senate Democrats.
Fairfax, who is black, broke his silence on the scandal Saturday, but pointedly refused to say his boss should stay as governor, suggesting the state needed “leaders with the ability to unite” Virginians.
“Like so many Virginians, I am shocked and saddened by the images in the Governor’s yearbook that came to light yesterday. They are an example of a painful scourge that continues to haunt us today and holds us back from the progress we need to make,” Fairfax said.
On the other side of the aisle, President Trump called the Northam scandal, as well as the governor’s recent support for a late-term abortion bill, “Unforgivable!” The Republican president also predicted that Northam’s GOP rival in 2017, Ed Gillespie, would have won by 20 points if the racist photo surfaced before the election.
Northam, who initially apologized for the photo on Friday, backtracked during a press conference Saturday by saying he didn’t think he was in the photo. During that media event, Northam declined to resign and asked for time to make his case to Virginia and the nation at large.
“Right now, I am simply asking for the opportunity to demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that the person I was is not the man I am today. I am asking for the opportunity to earn your forgiveness,” Northam said in a prepared statement.
Northam said he did not pick the photo to be included on his page. He also acknowledged that he wore blackface that same year to dress up as singer Michael Jackson for a talent show.
A source from Big League Politics told the Washington Post an ex-medical school classmate gave them a tip about the photo out of “anger” over Northam’s recent comments about a bill that would loosen restrictions on abortions in Virginia.
A second photo of a man who appears to be in blackface and dressed as a woman was also found in the same 1984 yearbook. The second photo, found by the Virginian-Pilot in a copy of the 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook, is captioned “who ever thought Diana Ross would make it to Medical School.”
It is not immediately apparent who is depicted in any of the photos in question.
A man claiming to be Northam’s medical school roommate said Sunday he doesn’t recognize the photo on Northam’s yearbook page. Rob Marsh told WWBT, an NBC affiliate in Richmond, Va., he was the co-chairman of the social committee that sponsored the Halloween party that Northam did attend that year and said Northam dressed up as an attorney. “Ralph comes out and I remember he was dressed in a three-piece suit and he had a briefcase,” Marsh said.
In response to the controversy, the Eastern Virginia Medical School announced Saturday that it would be conducting an investigation into all past yearbooks. The school’s president, Richard Homan, said a panel for the inquiry will include “advocates for diversity and inclusion representative of our greater community, including African Americans and other people of color.”
On Saturday, Homan appointed a number of people to the panel, including Gilbert Bland as its chair. Bland is a former national president of the Minority Franchise Association of Burger King Corporation and charter member of its Inclusion Advisory Council. He currently serves as president and CEO of the Urban League of Hampton Roads. L.D. Britt, chairman and professor of surgery at Eastern Virginia Medical School, was also appointed to the so-called Community Advisory Board. The school said more appointments would be made in the coming days.
