RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – One of the busiest days on the Virginia legislature’s calendar began under a cloud of suspense Tuesday as Gov. Ralph Northam weighed whether he can continue in the job amid the fallout over a racist photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page.
With tension running high, lawmakers began arriving for crossover day – when the House and Senate must finish bills to send to the other chamber – after days of turmoil set off by the photo, which depicts someone in blackface standing next to another person in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe.
Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, left, listens to assistant Senate Crerk, Tara Perkinson, as he prepares to preside over the Senate at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., Monday, Feb. 4, 2019. Virginians are now taking a closer look at Fairfax as he suddenly looms as the successor to Gov. Ralph Northam, whose political future is in jeopardy after a blackface photo was discovered on Northam’s personal page in his medical school yearbook. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)Amid a barrage of calls for his resignation from his own party, the 59-year-old Democratic governor gave no public indication of which way he was leaning as he met privately with top advisers.
State Sen. Louise Lucas, a prominent African-American lawmaker and former Northam ally who has pressed for him to step down, said the governor doesn’t need to take a few more days to consider his options and make up his mind.
“I am so praying that he will do that and get it behind us,” Lucas said. “What’s a little bit more of time going to do for us?”