In early February, a conservative website published a photo of Northam's 1984 medical school yearbook page, which featured one person in blackface and another dressed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Northam initially confirmed, then denied, that he is one of the people in the photo.
For days/weeks, he resisted calls from top Democrats, including 2020 presidential candidates, and the Democratic Governors Association, to step down. His resignation follows that of Michael Ertel, Florida's Republican secretary of state, after a photo emerged showing him in blackface in 2005.
Northam will be succeeded by Democratic Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who becomes governor effective TK, Fairfax, who will turn 40 on Feb. 17, will be the nation's youngest governor. He will also be Virginia's second black governor. Douglas Wilder, who Virginians elected in 1989, and Deval Patrick, who Massachusetts elected in 2006, are the only African-Americans who have become governor through the will of the voters.
Fairfax will come into office facing a controversy of his own.
Days after unearthing Northam's yearbook page, the same conservative website, Big League Politics, published a story about a woman who alleges Fairfax sexually assaulted her at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. The Washington Post learned of these allegations in 2017, after Fairfax was elected, and investigated the claim. The Post says it did not publish a story because it "could not find anyone who could corroborate either version" or anyone else who has made similar allegations against Fairfax.
Fairfax's office quickly issued a denial, calling it a "defamatory and false allegation." His statement, however, said The Post found "significant red flags and inconsistencies within the allegations" -- the newspaper said that is not true.
<< are any officials calling for fairfax to pass the job off to herring if it comes to that? if so, mention it here.
Unlike nearly every other Democrat in Virginia and national politics, Fairfax was careful not to call for Northam's resignation, likely out of fear of appearing to promote his own career. Fairfax did make clear his disapproval and disgust.
"I cannot condone the actions from his past that, at the very least, suggest a comfort with Virginia's darker history of white supremacy, racial stereotyping and intimidation," Fairfax said.
Justin Fairfax on the Issues
Fairfax may prove to be more liberal than Northam on certain issues. During the 2017 campaign, he opposed construction of a pair of natural gas pipelines that Northam supported.But by and large, he will continue Northam's policies? << i think we need some kind of transition sentence here. Fairfax helped Northam make good on his campaign promise to expand Medicaid, casting the tie-breaking vote in the state Senate. His top priorities include making college more affordable, increasing teacher pay and reforming criminal justice. He also supports gun control, a minimum wage increase and abortion rights.
"The intent of Senate Democrats is simple: Give tax relief to working Virginians, make smart investments in education and transportation, and save for our future," Fairfax wrote in a January op-ed in January with Dick Saslaw, the party's Senate leader.
On the issue of race, Fairfax may be particularly well-positioned to lead Virginia through a moment of racial healing.
When he was sworn into office last year, he carried in his pocket the manumission document from 1798 that freed his great-great-great grandfather, Simon Fairfax, who was born into slavery. In January, as well as last year, when Virginia Senators paid tribute to Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Fairfax refused to remain on the platform where he normally presides. If Lee and the South had succeeded, Fairfax said, there was no chance someone like him would be standing in the Senate.
"I want to be clear that my children, my grandchildren, will not see me on videotape presiding over a motion honoring people who fought for a set of laws and a society that would have enslaved members of their family," Fairfax told WVTF, Roanoke's public radio station.
The Future of Virginia Politics
Republicans hold single-seat majorities in both of Virginia's legislative chambers. Democrats, however, are optimistic they can win control this year, particularly after a federal court approved a new state House map that is more favorable to their party.If that happens, and if Fairfax runs for governor and wins in 2021, he could be unusually influential. Virginia limits governors to a single consecutive four-year term. Virginia hasn't had a second-term governor since Mills Godwin in the 1970s. Because he is filling a vacancy, Fairfax could end up serving nearly seven years on the job.
"Virginia has suffered from a lack of continuity in some respects," says Larry Sabato, who directs the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "We're always training a new governor, and by the time he knows the job well and is operating on all cylinders, we show him the door. Justin Fairfax might be able to break that cycle."
Who Is Justin Fairfax?
Fairfax attended Duke University on a scholarship and then got his law degree from Columbia University. He worked as a federal prosecutor but has spent most of his career in the public sector. Last year, he joined the giant law firm Morrison & Foerster. (It's common for Virginia lieutenant governors, who have a part-time job, to moonlight.)“He didn’t grow up with much, but with scholarships, a hard-working mom, he went to college and law school and chose public service to make sure other striving young kids could have the same opportunities,” former President Barack Obama said of Fairfax at a campaign rally in 2017.
Fairfax became engaged in politics early, holding junior positions in Democratic presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004. He narrowly lost his own primary bid for state attorney general in 2013.
During the 2017 campaign, Fairfax's name and image were left off pieces of campaign literature that featured Northam and state Attorney General Mark Herring. The cards were going to be handed out by canvassers with the Laborers' International Union of North America, which didn't endorse Fairfax due to his opposition to the pipelines.
Fairfax called his omission a "mistake." It was greeted in harsher terms by others.
"It reeks of subtle racism, if not a tone deafness about how we are going to win in November," Quentin James, the founder of Collective PAC, which supports black candidates, told The Washington Post. "Leaving Justin Fairfax off ... even if it's only for a small universe of union members, still sends the wrong message."
If Fairfax resigns for any reason, Herring, the Democratic attorney general, would be next in line to be governor.
