Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring was being discussed in the Capitol as a possible successor to Gov. Ralph Northam if the allegations against Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax were too much for him to bear. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo Virginia Virginia Democrats confront second blackface scandal The state's leadership is in turmoil.

Virginia’s Democratic hierarchy is in total disarray.

Days after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam admitted to donning blackface as part of a costume decades ago, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring admitted Wednesday that he, too, as a young man darkened his face for a college costume party.


“In 1980, when I was a 19-year-old undergraduate in college, some friends suggested we attend a party dressed like rappers we listened to at the time, like Kurtis Blow, and perform a song. It sounds ridiculous even now writing it. But 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," Herring wrote in a statement. “This was a onetime occurrence and I accept full responsibility for my conduct."

Herring, who had called on Northam to resign after his blackface scandal erupted Friday, indicated in his statement that he’s not sure if he’ll stay in office.

The admissions of the two Democratic leaders bookend another emerging political crisis involving the Virginia’s only statewide elected black politician, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who has been accused by college professor Vanessa Tyson of sexually assaulting her at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. Fairfax, who first called the charges a “smear,” publicly moderated his tone Wednesday and said in a new statement that his accuser should be given the “space and support” to tell her story.

Fairfax’s statement was quickly followed by the shocking revelations from Herring, however. And shortly after that, Tyson issued a lengthy statement detailing Fairfax's alleged assault.

Earlier Wednesday, Herring told the legislative black caucus about his controversy in a hastily called closed-door meeting after rumors began circulating about the photo of him in blackface decades ago.

Lawmakers emerging from the meeting on Wednesday were shell-shocked. Black lawmakers have called for Northam’s resignation, but two lawmakers interviewed by POLITICO after the meeting on Wednesday did not criticize Herring or call for him to step down.

“We’re just taking a measured approach and we’re taking it step by step,” said Democratic Del. Joe Lindsey. “We’re just trying to deal with the matter at hand.” Lamont Bagby, chairman of the Virginia legislative black caucus, also declined to comment on the meeting or tell reporters whether he had lost confidence in Herring’s leadership.

Similarly, in the nation’s Capitol, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, didn’t know what to say when news broke of Herring’s admission.

“I’m shocked and incredibly disappointed. This has been an awful week for Virginia,” he told reporters as he tried to get away from them in an elevator, stammering along the way. “I’m just getting the original report. I'd like to get ... I ... I haven’t even read statements yet,” Warner said, declining to say if Herring should quit.

Democrats are conflicted about Herring, in part, because he was supposed to be their Plan C if Northam resigned and if Fairfax somehow didn’t replace him.

Now talk of that option appears dead as well.

The succession of blows to the top three elected officials in the state paralyzed the Capitol in Richmond and left Democrats stunned by the multiple revelations concerning racial sensitivity and sexual violence — two issues that the party had once viewed as a strength relative to the GOP.

Beyond partisan politics, the scandals involving Northam and Herring were a raw reminder that the past is never dead in the old capital of the Confederacy.

Northam’s 1984 East Virginial Medical College yearbook page, unearthed by conservative website Big League politics, bore a picture of two young men in black face and a Ku Klux Klan outfit. The yearbook had other pictures of young white men in blackface and the yearbook was finally shuttered in 2014 after it contained pictures of students dressed up as Rebel soldiers.

Northam, who initially admitted to being one of the young men in the photograph, reversed himself Saturday but admitted he had darkened his face to look like Michael Jackson at a 1984 talent show.

Four years before that, Herring donned his own costume imitating yet another black entertainer. But now, what used to be no big deal for white boys in college is political cyanide. And Herring sounded unsure about whether it would kill his term.

“In the days ahead, honest conversations and discussions will make it clear whether I can or should continue to serve as attorney general,” Herring said in his statement, “but no matter where we got 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.”



CORRECTION: A previous version of this story said that Attorney General Mark Herring showed a photo of himself in blackface during a closed-door meeting. Herring did not show a photo.