“Four months have passed and neither of my accusers has filed criminal complaints with law enforcement but instead have gone to numerous media outlets to try this matter in the court of public opinion,” Fairfax said in a statement. “I want the opportunity to clear my name and strongly believe a police investigation would do that.”

In the letter his lawyers sent Wednesday to officials in Durham, Fairfax says he was blackmailed when Watson’s legal team told him on Feb. 8 that they would publicize the rape allegation if he didn’t agree to resign “within two hours.”

In the February letter from Watson’s team, which Fairfax spokeswoman Lauren Burke shared with the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Thursday, attorney Nancy Erika Smith wrote that her client had “fresh complaint witnesses and written confirmation of her previously telling various people about the rape.”

She goes on to say: “My client would like to avoid media attention about this traumatic event which has affected her entire life since, and she is not interested in any financial damages. ... Mr. Fairfax’s past behavior is obviously disqualifying for any public office. We hope that he reaches the same conclusion. Please respond by 3 p.m. today.”