Ralph Northam, the Democratic governor of Virginia, was on Sunday refusing to resign despite overwhelming calls from Democrats and Republicans for his departure over the inclusion of a racist image in his medical college yearbook.
Mr Northam on Friday conceded that a photograph that appeared on his personal page in the 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook was “clearly racist and offensive”. The image showed one person in blackface and another dressed in the white garb of the Ku Klux Klan.
The revelation sparked immediate calls for his resignation. All of the Democratic presidential candidates, including the two African-Americans in the race — Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker — and potential contenders such as Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator, and former vice-president Joe Biden, urged him to step down.
After refusing to resign on Friday, Mr Northam on Saturday held a press conference where he stressed that he would remain in office and claimed — while conceding that people would find it hard to believe — that he was not the person in the offending photograph.
“Yesterday, I took responsibility for content that appeared on my page in the Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook that was clearly racist and offensive,” Mr Northam said in Richmond. “I was appalled that they appeared on my page, but I believed then and now that I am not either of the people in that photo.”
“I cannot in good conscience choose the path that would be easier for me in an effort to duck my responsibility to reconcile,” Mr Northam said.
Donald Trump, the US president who has on occasion faced harsh criticism for appearing to condone white supremacists, also joined the chorus of critics. “Democrat Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia just stated, ‘I believe that I am not either of the people in that photo.’ This was 24 hours after apologising for appearing in the picture and after making the most horrible statement on “super” late-term abortion. Unforgivable!,” he tweeted.
Democrats want Mr Northam to step down as soon as possible to prevent any further damage to the party, which is more accustomed to criticising Republicans for racist incidents. Mr Northam would be replaced by Justin Fairfax, a 39-year-old African-American descendant of slaves, who currently serves as the Democratic lieutenant-governor.
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At his press conference, Mr Northam, 59, said he was sure he was not in the yearbook photo, particularly because he vividly remembered a racist incident that same year where he darkened his face to look like Michael Jackson.
“I did participate in a dance contest in San Antonio in which I darkened my face as part of a Michael Jackson costume,” Mr Northam said. “It is because my memory of that episode is so vivid that I truly do not believe I am in the picture in my yearbook. You remember these things.”
Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia politics professor, said he would not rule out the possibility that Mr Northam remained in office, but added that pressure on the governor to step down was enormous.
“Trump has taught everyone you can tough your way through almost any kind of scandal or controversy,” said Mr Sabato. “But Democrats are now united in opposition to Northam. They want him gone. They don’t want him dragging down the legislative candidates come November. Democrats are on the edge of taking over [the state legislature].”
