Virginia politics in chaos

Despite the controversy over a racist photo his medical school yearbook page, Gov. Ralph Northam insists he is the best person to lead Virginia, once the heart of the Confederacy, and says he can help the state “heal.”

Northam referenced the state’s 400 years of slavery in his interview with Gayle King on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” and referred to enslaved Africans as “indentured servants from Africa.”

“Also known as slavery,” King interjected.

“Yes,” Northam said.

In a statement provided to CNN Monday, Northam responded to criticism of his use of the term “indentured servants” saying, “During a recent event at Fort Monroe I spoke about the arrival of the first Africans in Virginia and referred to them in my remarks as enslaved. A historian advised me that the use of indentured was more historically accurate – the fact is, I’m still learning and committed to getting it right.”

A quick history lesson:

This post has been updated with Northam’s statement.

Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam said Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax should resign if the allegations of sexual assault against him are true, in an interview with Gayle King on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”

Here’s the exchange between Northam and King.

Northam is facing resignation calls of his own over the controversy surrounding a racist yearbook photo. But he said he has no plans to resign.

Both women who have accused Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault say they are willing to testify at possible impeachment hearings, the pair say in separate statements released by their respective legal teams.

Dr. Vanessa Tyson, the first accuser to come forward with allegations against Fairfax, will “cooperate in any investigation that occurs,” the statement reads.

Separately, Meredith Watson, the second accuser to allege sexual assault, “stands ready, although it will be painful, to tell the Virginia Legislature what Mr. Fairfax did to her when she was 20 years old,” the press release reads.

Read the full statement from lawyers:

Read the full statement from Watson’s lawyers:

From CNN’s Dana Bash and Ryan Nobles

Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax issued a statement on Saturday defending himself from a pair of sexual assault allegations. In a statement obtained by CNN’s Ryan Nobles, Fairfax wrote:

Earlier this week, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring admitted he wore blackface as a 19-year-old to dress up as a rapper at a party in the 1980s.

Now, hip-hop legend Kurtis Blow, who Herring named in his statement, is speaking out about the blackface controversies that are dominating headlines.

“It is unfortunate that in this current climate we are confronted with the use of blackface as a barometer of where we are as a society,” an Instagram post from Blow, whose real name is Kurtis Walker, began.

Here’s the rest of his post:

Democrats called for investigation, not resignation, after Justin Fairfax was accused of sexual assault earlier this week.

But now that a second woman has accused the Virginia lieutenant governor of rape, prominent Democrats are roundly calling on the 39-year old politician to step down.

Here’s a list of people so far who have called for Fairfax to resign now:

And here’s a list of those who say Fairfax should resign if the allegations are true:

Embattled Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Saturday he feels he should remain in office to help his state heal and use the rest of his term to pursue racial “equity” — hoping to move on from a racist photograph scandal and admission of donning blackface in the past.

He acknowledged that he has “a lot more to learn,” the Post reported.

Read more about his interview with the paper here.

Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax is no longer the chair of the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association. The group announced late on Friday night that Fairfax was out as chair and that his role would be filled by Bethany Hall-Long of Delaware and Cyrus Habib of Washington.

They did not say whether Fairfax stepped down on his own or if he was forced out.

Fairfax was chair starting in August 2018.

On Friday, a second woman came forward to say that she was raped by Democratic Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax.

Meredith Watson alleged that Fairfax’s assault on her was “premeditated and aggressive” when they both attended Duke in 2000 and that the two were friends but not romantically involved, according to a statement from her legal counsel, the firm Smith Mullen. Fairfax denied the allegation.

“Ms. Watson shared her account of the rape with friends in a series of emails and Facebook messages that are now in our possession. Additionally, we have statements from former classmates corroborating that Ms. Watson immediately told friends that Mr. Fairfax had raped her,” the statement reads.

Watson is the second woman to accuse Fairfax of sexual assault. Vanessa Tyson, a professor in California, released a lengthy statement early this week detailing her alleged encounter with Fairfax during the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Read more on the allegation here.

Prior to speaking to The Washington Post, Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam told his Cabinet on Friday that he has no plans to resign in the wake of a blackface scandal that has tossed his state’s government into chaos, a source with direct knowledge of the meeting told CNN.

What’s going on? Northam has been under fire for a week after the public reveal of a photo on his medical school yearbook page featuring two individuals in racist costumes – one in blackface and the other in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. Northam initially apologized and said he was one of the people in the photo, but later recanted in an hour-long news conference, saying he was not in the picture.

Though Northam defended himself in the news conference last Saturday, he also revealed that he had worn blackface in a separate incident, when he performed dressed as Michael Jackson in a dance competition in the 1980s.

Get caught up here.