Ralph Northam, Virginia's Democratic nominee for governor, deleted his black running mate from his campaign fliers. His campaign says that's not a big deal.

Northam, the sitting lieutenant governor, removed a picture of Justin Fairfax on palm cards at the request of a labor union that supports him but opposes the lieutenant governor candidate.

There isn't any friction between the two though, says campaign spokesman David Turner. "This is a strong ticket," he added, "one that is working well together."

Northam spokesman tells me there's nothing malicious about Fairfax's absence and says the whole thing is "fairly innocuous." https://t.co/smOP6gx6tX — Philip Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) October 18, 2017

Conservatives like Erik Erickson were quick to point out that the Laborers' International Union of North America, or LiUNA, opposes Fairfax because of his opposition to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a proposed pipe that would carry natural gas between West Virginia and southern North Carolina. The Northam campaign said as much, admitting that Fairfax was deleted not because of his race, but because of his overly progressive stance on the pipeline.

"Out of over 3 million pieces of literature printed for the campaign, the piece for LiUNA canvassers constituted roughly 0.5 percent of the literature printed," the campaign spokesman said. "These doors have also received literature for the full ticket — as have roughly 1.5 million households in Virginia."

In other words, it's not significant because the nominee only removes his running mate occasionally.

Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.