Politics

Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe Predicts Northam Will Resign Soon

‘HORRIBLE HISTORY’

“It’s not about Ralph anymore,” the former governor said.

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Julia Rendleman/Reuters

Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe on Sunday said he believes Gov. Ralph Northam will resign soon after a controversial yearbook photo surfaced. Northam has recently come under fire for a photo in his 1984 medical school yearbook that shows the governor in black face. “It’s heartbreaking,” McAuliffe told Jake Tapper on CNN's State of the Union. “It has been one of the worst 48 hours.” Northam was lieutenant governor during McAuliffe's term as governor from 2014 to 2018, and McAuliffe helped Northam win election to the governor's mansion. McAuliffe said he couldn't comprehend why Northam would say on Friday that he was in the yearbook photo and then reverse that statement on Saturday. The photo showed two men, one in blackface and one in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. “First he said it was (him) Friday night, and if it wasn’t him in the photo he should have said that on Friday," McAuliffe said. McAuliffe said Virginia's African-American Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax would become the state's 74th governor if Northam resigns. “We have to move on. (Northam) cannot be the moral leader... we’ve had a horrible history in Virginia. It’s not about Ralph anymore.”

Read it at Richmond Times-Dispatch

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