TROY — City Council member Mark McGrath resigned Monday, a little over a week after the Times Union published an article about a voicemail in which McGrath can be heard using racial slurs.

As recently as Saturday, McGrath insisted he would not resign despite the three-year-old voicemail. But on Monday, McGrath sent a letter of resignation to City Hall.

"The last couple of weeks have been difficult for me and my family," wrote McGrath, who represents the Second District. "It's hard for us to fathom what kind of person would hang on to a voicemail I clearly didn't know existed just to release it to the press more than three years later in an effort to hurt me and my reputation. This type of vindictiveness is foreign to me."

In the 12-second voicemail, McGrath appears to be initially unaware that the call he is making has gone to voicemail. McGrath doesn't appear to direct the slurs at the person he is calling, though it's unclear if he is talking to himself or someone in the room with him. When he realizes he is being recorded, he simply asks for the person to call him back and hangs up.

He can be heard saying, "That f---ing n----r. F---ing c--n f--k. Hey ... it's Mark McGrath, give me a call, will ya?"

The copy of the voicemail given to the Times Union had the recipient's name bleeped out.

It will now be up to the City Council's six remaining members to choose McGrath's replacement. Democrats control four of the seats and Republicans hold two, including the post of City Council president. An appointment requires a simple majority.

Council member Anasha Cummings, a Democrat, said the party was already talking to candidates to run against McGrath in the November election. His replacement, Cummings said, could come from those candidates or others who surface in the coming days.

Council President Carmella Mantello, a Republican, proposed creation of a committee made up of members of the council and residents of the district to recommend potential candidates. Cummings was cool to the idea, saying Mantello was "trying to reinvent a process because the current process doesn't favor her."

Pressure on McGrath, an enrolled Conservative Party member who aligns with the Republicans on the City Council, had been mounting since the Times Union published the article on Jan. 24.

Mayor Patrick Madden called on McGrath to resign a day after the email emerged, and on Saturday, a prominent Troy pastor sent Mantello an email urging McGrath to leave office.

"We respect that this was a difficult decision for Mr. McGrath, and wish him the best," Madden, a Democrat, said in a statement released by his office.

When contacted by the Times Union for the initial story, McGrath initially denied it was him on the voicemail. He subsequently acknowledged it was his voice.

"Obviously I was alone and very angry," he said. "I can't remember it, I cannot. It certainly wasn't my finest moment."

McGrath offered no apology in his letter of resignation.

"I have been fortunate to receive a great deal of forgiveness and support from many of my constituents," he wrote, "and they have all asked me not to step down. Some have even claimed that to do so would be allowing the person or people who did this to 'win.'

"However, at the end of the day, the only win that matters is to do what's best for me and my family. As such, I am resigning my council seat effective immediately. It has been my great honor to serve the people of District 2."

McGrath's decision came as Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, continued to resist calls to resign after Friday's revelation that his 1984 medical school yearbook includes a picture of a man in blackface standing next to someone dressed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Northam initially apologized for taking part in the photo, then claimed he wasn't either of the men depicted — while also acknowledging that he darkened his skin to dress up as Michael Jackson.