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Virginia Attorney General Says He Also Dressed in Blackface Second Virginia Democrat Says He Wore Blackface, Throwing Party Into Turmoil
(about 2 hours later)
RICHMOND, Va. — Attorney General Mark R. Herring of Virginia acknowledged Wednesday that he put on blackface and wore a wig while an undergraduate of the University of Virginia in 1980, becoming the second statewide official here in the last week to admit to imitating an African-American person and sending an already-stunned Capitol reeling. RICHMOND, Va. — The third-ranking elected official in Virginia, Attorney General Mark R. Herring, acknowledged Wednesday that he had worn blackface at a party as an undergraduate student, deepening a crisis that has engulfed the state’s Democratic leadership.
Mr. Herring released a statement saying that he dressed like the rapper Kurtis Blow, an acknowledgment that instantly deepened a crisis in the state’s Democratic Party. The governor, Ralph Northam, under siege over a racist photo in his medical school yearbook, admitted last week that he once blackened his face as part of a Michael Jackson costume. Just two days later, Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax, the other one of Virginia’s three statewide officials, faced an allegation of sexual assault, which he denied. Then, just two hours later, a woman came forward to describe in detail her accusation that Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax had sexually assaulted her in 2004, an accusation he denies.
“Because of our ignorance and glib attitudes — and because we did not have an appreciation for the experiences and perspectives of others — we dressed up and put on wigs and brown makeup,” Mr. Herring said in a statement on Wednesday. [Read more about the accusations against Mr. Fairfax here.]
Alluding to the image from Mr. Northam’s yearbook that has engulfed the governor in turmoil, Mr. Herring added: “That I have contributed to the pain Virginians have felt this week is the greatest shame I have ever felt.” He said he was “deeply, deeply sorry” but did not indicate if he would remain in office. The back-to-back revelations threw the Capitol here into a state of uncertainty about who would lead Virginia, coming less than one week after the disclosure of a racist photograph on the yearbook page of Gov. Ralph Northam led to demands for his resignation. Grim-faced legislators rushed through the hallways, shaken by a series of allegations and confessions that threatened to cripple the Virginia government’s three leading officials.
Mr. Herring resigned Wednesday as the co-chairman of the Democratic Attorneys General Association. Amid the tumult, Democrats in the Capitol were all but paralyzed in the face of a deeply painful sequence of events that could undermine their hopes of reclaiming the State Legislature, the Republicans’ last remaining foothold of power in Virginia, in the fall. The party has not lost a statewide election here since 2009, and Virginia was the only Southern state President Trump lost in 2016.
Just hours after Mr. Herring’s statement, Mr. Fairfax’s accuser, Vanessa Tyson, went public with her claims that Mr. Fairfax had assaulted her at the 2004 Democratic convention in Boston. National Democrats, who were quick to call for Mr. Northam’s resignation last weekend and have generally adopted a zero-tolerance approach to transgressions on race and gender, were mostly silent after Mr. Herring’s disclosure and the extraordinary first-person account from Mr. Fairfax’s accuser.
“What began as consensual kissing quickly turned into a sexual assault,” Ms. Tyson said in a statement released by a law firm, adding: “Mr. Fairfax forced me to perform oral sex on him. I cannot believe, given my obvious distress, that Mr. Fairfax thought this forced sexual act was consensual. To be very clear, I did not want to engage in oral sex with Mr. Fairfax and I never gave any form of consent.” Mr. Northam, isolated for days and abandoned by the Democratic Party, did not make an appearance or comment on Wednesday’s developments. Mr. Fairfax, whose ascent to the governor’s office had been widely expected as recently as Saturday, rebutted the assault accusation in a muted tone that reflected his political peril.
Later Wednesday, Mr. Fairfax issued another denial, saying in a statement: “Reading Dr. Tyson’s account is painful. I have never done anything like what she suggests.’’ And Mr. Herring, who had been preparing his own 2021 campaign for governor, perhaps against Mr. Fairfax, faced a personal reckoning four days after he called for the governor’s ouster — even as he harbored his own secret involving blackface.
The developments cast Virginia’s government into a state of chaos, and cast doubt over who will ultimately be leading the state: “The governor of Virginia — for now,” said State Senator Adam P. Ebbin, a Democrat from Alexandria, referring to Mr. Northam. “That I have contributed to the pain Virginians have felt this week is the greatest shame I have ever felt,” Mr. Herring said in a statement, while acknowledging that his ability to remain as attorney general was in doubt.
Mr. Northam has not been seen in public since Sunday, a day after he revealed he had once worn shoe polish to dress as Michael Jackson at a dance party. At the same time, he retracted his earlier admission that he had participated in the yearbook photograph, which showed one person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan robe. With Virginia’s top three statewide officials facing mortal political threats in the midst of the legislative session and an election year, some senior legislators suggested it was time to stop demanding resignations.
And Mr. Fairfax, after issuing a statement at nearly 3 a.m. Monday vehemently denying the sexual assault claims, has suggested Mr. Northam or Mayor Levar Stoney of Richmond were behind the initial leak of the woman’s claims — creating an extraordinary state of tumult surrounding the state’s leadership. “I feel like I’m living in an episode of a Nathaniel Hawthorne novel where people are rushing to judgment, and it feels like if I don’t proclaim judgment right away, it somehow reflects on me,” said State Senator J. Chapman Petersen, a Northern Virginia Democrat. “I think we need to slow down.”
Nearly every major state and national Democrat has called on Mr. Northam to resign, and Virginia Democrats are nervously waiting for more details regarding the accusations against Mr. Fairfax, having so far only issued spare statements about how women’s claims should be taken seriously. Referring to the three officials, Mr. Petersen added, “I want them all to stay put until we learn more.”
Mr. Herring is second in line to become governor after Mr. Fairfax. If all three men — Mr. Northam, Mr. Fairfax and Mr. Herring — were to resign without immediate replacements, Kirk Cox, the Republican House speaker, would become governor. Asked who was in charge of the state, State Senator Adam P. Ebbin, a Democrat, replied, “The governor of Virginia — for now.”
“In the days ahead, honest conversations and discussions will make it clear whether I can or should continue to serve as attorney general,” Mr. Herring said, “but no matter where we go from here, I will say that from the bottom of my heart, I am deeply, deeply sorry for the pain that I cause with this revelation.” [Make sense of the people, issues and ideas shaping American politics with our newsletter.]
Mr. Herring, a former state legislator who was elected attorney general in 2013, is from Northern Virginia, where he was a local official before entering state-level politics. He narrowly defeated Mr. Fairfax in a Democratic primary in 2013. Although speculation about Mr. Herring’s history with blackface had coursed through the Capitol this week, it was not until Wednesday morning that he met with the Legislative Black Caucus to inform them. He then issued a statement that described how, as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia in 1980, he had dressed as the rapper Kurtis Blow.
Mr. Herring first disclosed his behavior in a private meeting Wednesday morning with this state’s legislative black caucus. Afterward, black legislators walked into the Capitol Wednesday with downcast looks on their faces and avoided questions about their meeting with Mr. Herring. By Mr. Herring’s account, he and friends “dressed up and put on wigs and brown makeup” for a party, and that it was a one-time occurrence. The attorney general, who was elected in 2013 after serving in the General Assembly and in local government in Northern Virginia, said that “the shame of that moment has haunted me for decades.”
Delegate Lamont Bagby, the chairman of the black caucus, confirmed the session but would not comment about what the attorney general said. “He’ll talk about it,” said Mr. Bagby. Black legislators in the Capitol generally saw Mr. Herring as an ally on crucial issues. Their Wednesday morning meeting with black lawmakers was “emotional” for everyone present, including the attorney general, said State Senator Louise Lucas, a Democrat who attended the gathering. She said that the attorney general wiped tears from his cheek and that legislators also cried.
Mr. Bagby declined to answer further questions, and another delegate, Eileen Filler-Corn, the Democratic House leader, pulled him away from a reporter and into a private room. Although Mr. Herring, who attributed his decision to imitate a black person to “ignorance and glib attitudes,” resigned as the co-chairman of the Democratic Attorneys General Association, he left open the question of whether he would stay in his state office.
“I’m not going to talk about what happened at the meeting this morning,” said Delegate Jay Jones, visibly shaken, before he was hustled away by an aide. Mr. Herring’s admission came on the same day that Mr. Fairfax, the second African-American elected to statewide office in Virginia, confronted an altogether different allegation that, after shadowing him throughout the week, was openly detailed for the first time by his accuser, Vanessa C. Tyson.
Just minutes before Mr. Herring issued his statement, Mr. Fairfax issued his own statement, at around the same time NBC reported that he had used profane language about his accuser at a Senate Democratic caucus meeting. In a statement issued through her lawyers, Dr. Tyson, a college professor from California, said she met Mr. Fairfax at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. According to Dr. Tyson, she accompanied Mr. Fairfax when he went to retrieve documents from his hotel room, and he then kissed her. Dr. Tyson said she kissed him back, but said she had “no intention of taking my clothes off or engaging in sexual activity.”
Asked if Mr. Fairfax had referred to the woman with an expletive, Larry Roberts, the chief of staff to Mr. Fairfax who attended the meeting, said the lieutenant governor had used a profanity to describe the situation and his level of anger, but had not referred to the woman with the expletive reported by NBC. Dr. Tyson wrote that Mr. Fairfax “forcefully pushed my head towards his crotch” and forced her to perform oral sex. “I never gave any form of consent,” she said.
“This has been an emotional couple of days for me and my family,” Mr. Fairfax said, emphasizing “how important it is for us to listen to woman when they come forward with allegations of sexual assault.” Mr. Fairfax, in a statement released shortly before Dr. Tyson detailed her version of events, described their interaction as “a consensual encounter” and asserted that she did not “express to me any discomfort or concern.” Later in the day, in a more spare and conciliatory statement, he said: “I take this situation very seriously and continue to believe Dr. Tyson should be treated with respect. But I cannot agree to a description of events that simply is not true.”
It just was four days ago that the attorney general had demanded Mr. Northam resign over the governor’s own admission that he once wore blackface. Dr. Tyson spoke to The Washington Post about her allegation before Mr. Fairfax was sworn in as lieutenant governor last year, but the newspaper did not publish her account because it could not be corroborated.
“It is no longer possible for Governor Northam to lead our Commonwealth and it is time for him to step down,” Mr. Herring said on Saturday, the day of Mr. Northam’s nationally-televised news conference. “I have spoken with Lieutenant Governor Fairfax and assured him that, should he ascend to the governorship, he will have my complete support and commitment to ensuring his success and the success of our Commonwealth.” At the time of the initial inquiry by The Post, Mr. Fairfax retained the Washington law firm that would go on to represent Brett M. Kavanaugh when he faced charges of sexual misconduct during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Mr. Fairfax, whose aides insisted he would not resign, re-engaged the firm on Sunday.
The scene in the Capitol was surreal Wednesday morning, as dozens of Catholic priests here to lobby against abortion and women in support of the Equal Rights Amendment walked hallways that were buzzing with rumor about the latest extraordinary news. This week, as he faced intensifying questions about his past conduct, Mr. Fairfax veered from varying responses; he suggested that allies of Mr. Northam and then Mayor Levar Stoney of Richmond, a political rival, were behind the abrupt airing of the allegation in hopes of blocking his path to the governor’s office.
Approached by a reporter as he walked toward the State Senate chamber, Mr. Fairfax would only say: “God is good.” The issue, though, is one of immense delicacy for Democrats. Since last fall’s hearings for Justice Kavanaugh, they have often said that women who come forward to reveal sexual harassment or assault should be believed.
Just after 11 a.m., Mr. Bagby emerged from the chamber and acknowledged the meeting between Mr. Herring and the caucus. A half-hour later, Mr. Herring acknowledged what had been rumored here since Tuesday: He, too, had put makeup on his face for a party in the 1980s. Some Virginia Democrats, after hearing of Dr. Tyson’s account, declined to say if they believed the lieutenant governor should resign.
The State Senate’s top two leaders, who are both white, avoided questions. “Everybody is entitled to have their voices heard,” Senator Barbara Favola, an Arlington Democrat, said when asked about the allegations.
Wednesday’s sequences of events plainly roiled the state government, which had been on edge in the wake of Mr. Northam’s seeming political implosion. The governor has not been seen in public since Sunday, a day after he revealed at a nationally televised news conference that he had once put shoe polish on his cheeks to dress as Michael Jackson at a dance party in 1984. At the same time, he retracted his earlier admission that he was one of the people in a photograph on his yearbook page that showed one person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan robes.
Mr. Fairfax was preparing for the possibility of succeeding Mr. Northam, as nearly every major state and national Democrat demanded the governor’s resignation.
At the same time, the stately, neo-Classical Capitol has been transformed into a hub of political intrigue and suspicion. National television crews have been set up in front of the Executive Mansion since Saturday, and the State Police have offered Mr. Fairfax a level of protection that resembles that of a sitting governor.
On Wednesday, legislators expressed open bewilderment as they shared the Capitol’s corridors with dozens of Catholic priests who were lobbying lawmakers against abortion and button-wearing women who visited in support of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Black legislators walked into the statehouse Wednesday with downcast looks on their faces after Mr. Herring disclosed his past behavior to them. The group convened again later Wednesday, and Democratic members of the General Assembly suggested that they would take their cues from their African-American colleagues.
“The black caucus is not shy,” Delegate Lamont Bagby, the chairman of the black caucus, said on Wednesday afternoon. “We’ll speak.”
The State Senate’s top two leaders, who are both white, avoided questions about the turmoil that subsumed a crucial week for lawmakers.
“Nice to see you,” Senator Thomas K. Norment Jr., a Republican who is the Senate majority leader, told a reporter as he headed toward a meeting room less than an hour after Mr. Herring’s statement.“Nice to see you,” Senator Thomas K. Norment Jr., a Republican who is the Senate majority leader, told a reporter as he headed toward a meeting room less than an hour after Mr. Herring’s statement.
“It’s a lovely day today,” Senator Richard L. Saslaw, the Democratic leader, who was walking with Mr. Norment. “It’s a lovely day today,” said Senator Richard L. Saslaw, the Democratic leader of the State Senate.
Then both men ducked into a room. Both men ducked into a room.
Delegate Mark L. Keam, a Democrat from Northern Virginia, said lawmakers were stunned and did not know who would lead the state. Other legislators similarly deflected questions. One, State Senator Richard H. Stuart, a Republican who is close to Mr. Northam, professed to be focusing on the state budget.
“Uncertain,” said Mr. Keam when asked about the mood here. Although Mr. Northam has so far withstood calls for his resignation, the turmoil here has prompted scholars and strategists to scour the Virginia Constitution’s provisions on succession to the governor. Mr. Fairfax is next in line, followed by Mr. Herring. If all three men — Mr. Northam, Mr. Fairfax and Mr. Herring — were to resign without immediate replacements, Kirk Cox, the Republican House speaker, would become governor.
Mr. Bagby suggested Democrats would take their cues from their African-American colleagues. By day’s end, the question of Mr. Herring’s fate was arguably the most open-ended. In his statement on Wednesday, Mr. Herring said imminent “honest conversations and discussions will make it clear whether I can or should continue to serve as attorney general.”
“The black caucus is not shy,” Mr. Bagby said on Wednesday afternoon. “We’ll speak.” Mr. Northam has indicated that he intends to remain governor until his term ends in 2022, telling aides that he wants to clear his name, and Mr. Fairfax said Wednesday that he anticipated “continuing my work to unify the commonwealth.”
Mr. Herring’s admission came on the sixth day of a spiraling political crisis in Virginia, where the past personal conduct of the governor, the lieutenant governor and, now, the attorney general, have all come under withering scrutiny. National television crews have been set up in front of the Executive Mansion since Saturday and the state police have begun protecting Mr. Fairfax. But it seemed no one could speak with much confidence about what lies ahead.
The head-spinning sequence of events began Friday, when the racist photograph in Mr. Northam’s 1984 yearbook from Eastern Virginia Medical School was published online. Mr. Northam swiftly apologized for “the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo,” but he did not say whether he had been the person dressed in blackface or the one dressed in a Ku Klux Klan robe. Asked about the state of the government, Delegate Mark L. Keam, a Democrat from Fairfax County, replied with one word: “Uncertain.”
The next afternoon, at a 42-minute news conference in the Executive Mansion, Mr. Northam publicly reversed course and asserted that he had not, in fact, been in the photograph and that he would resist demands for his resignation. But he also compounded political difficulties by admitting to participating in the Michael Jackson-themed party and momentarily considering showing off his “moonwalk.”
While Mr. Northam aimed to survive his own political uproar, Mr. Fairfax faced his own peril. The sexual assault accusations against him surfaced on Sunday night on a right-wing website — the same website that had revealed the picture in Mr. Northam’s yearbook — and the Washington Post reported on Monday that it had investigated the allegation last year, shortly before Mr. Fairfax was inaugurated.
The newspaper said it did not originally publish the account because it could not be corroborated, but it detailed the charges on Monday.