The leadership crisis in Virginia took another harrowing turn on Friday evening when a second woman came forward to accuse Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, who was poised to succeed Democratic Governor Ralph Northam following an escalating blackface scandal, of sexual assault.

In a frank and disturbing statement, lawyer Nancy Erika Smith detailed the allegations of Meredith Watson, who claimed that Fairfax raped her while they both attended Duke University, calling the assault “premeditated and aggressive.” Smith added that she had e-mails, Facebook messages, and the statements from former classmates who said Watson had contemporaneously told them about the assault. “On behalf of our client, we have notified Justin Fairfax through his attorneys that Ms. Watson hopes he will resign from public office.”

Days earlier, the leadership crisis in Virginia exploded when Vanessa Tyson came forward with an allegation that Fairfax had forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004, while they both were working at the Democratic National Convention. Democrats everywhere condemned the act, but were hesitant to call for Fairfax to step down pending an investigation. As Vanity Fair contributor Peter Hamby noted, the episode highlighted the potential hypocrisy of Democrats who have insisted on a zero-tolerance policy in the party—and raised questions about whether Democratic leaders were holding themselves to the same standards they have maintained for Republicans. Upon the publication of Watson’s account, however, Democrats immediately began calling for Fairfax’s resignation. “The allegations against Justin Fairfax are serious and credible,” tweeted former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe. “It is clear to me that he can no longer effectively serve the people of Virginia as lieutenant governor.” He was quickly followed by five Virginia Democratic congresspeople, as well as Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Mazie Hirono, and Cory Booker.

Fairfax swiftly published a statement denying what he called another “unsubstantiated allegation.” Fairfax, who has suggested that he is the victim of a conspiracy, is demanding an investigation and has called on the F.B.I. to run background checks on him. “It is obvious that a vicious and coordinated smear campaign is being orchestrated against me,” he said. “I will not resign.”

The Fairfax accusations are just the latest in a series of cascading scandals among the highest elected officials in Virginia, beginning with Northam, who is currently fighting to remain in office after a conservative Web site unearthed a photo from his medical-school yearbook page depicting a man in blackface and a man dressed as a Klansman. (Northam maintains he did not appear in the photo, despite initially saying he was one of the two men pictured.) Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, who would be third in line for the governorship, threw his political survival into doubt when he admitted that he, too, had dressed in blackface as a 19-year-old. The state’s Republicans were not left unscathed, with revelations that several top politicians had blackface scandals of their own, as well.

This is a developing story.

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