called for his resignation. the one individual everybody s got their eye on right now is the lieutenant governor of virginia. his name is justin fairfax. he s an african-american. his great, great, great grandfather was a slave. he carries around what s called the manumission papers releasing him from his servitude from way back in the 18th century. he s released a statement. he is walking right up to calling for northam to resign. you ll remember in that press conference yesterday, ralph northam had high praise for justin fairfax and said that justin fairfax supported him. but he released a statement late yesterday that says in part, now more than ever we must make decisions in the best interests of the people of the commonwealth of virginia. he also said the ability to unite and help us rise to the better angels of our nature is essential. and so, this individual would stand to walk into the governor s mansion, if, in fact, ralph northam, just behind me here, chooses to resign. s
way he conducted his press conference which is to not say that. i just wonder if there is a way to say that in 2019. and maybe there shouldn t be. maybe we should be saying you know what? there are some bridges too far and as a society we re standing up or even as a democratic party we re standing up. you re either the party of this or not. and sorry if because you were a racist in 84, we ll forgive you, but you have to do it outside the governor s mansion. some people were laughing at this image. they think it s still funny today. i was thinking back on bamboozl bamboozled . help me with that. the other reception of this photograph, the degree to which people think this is still something that s acceptable, that it s something they still think is funny. it is not playing universally, i think it s safe to say. we just had the megyn kelly
about this, stacey abrams received justice for everyone in her state. she was asked to do this three weeks ago. i guess people will see her in a commercial for voting rights this weekend. she has national recognition, doesn t she, at this point? and don t put too much pressure on her. i actually previously had said that democrats should have given that spot to either stacey or andrew or someone else who was actually running for governor to sort of help elevate and demonstrate what the future and present the present and future of the democratic party is to sort of help boost name recognition and to talk about that. i mean, there is no secret i m a huge supporter of stacey, right, so i believe she s going to meet the moment and really communicate exactly what she did on the ground in georgia when
uniform, and i am not the person to the right. virginia governor ralph northam yesterday retracting an earlier admission for being the person in the photo. joining me now, sean sullivan with the washington post. good to see you both. sean, let s say that northam does not resign. are there any greater political implications if this drags on? well, i think this would be something that would worry democrats, not just in virginia, but nationally across the country. they re trying to draw a contrast right now with the republican party, with president trump when it comes to issues of race and racial matters, and having somebody in their own ranks that has something controversial in their past to explain makes that a more challenging task, potentially complicates that, so the longer this drags on, the more potentially politically problematic this could become for democrats across the country
the ku klux klan. but yesterday, he revealed that on another occasion in 1984, he did darken his face to impersonate michael jackson. i used just a little bit of shoe polish to put on my cheeks, and the reason i used a very little bit is because i don t know if anybody s ever tried that, but you cannot get shoe polish off. i do believe that both of them are wrong, but there s a contrast that s seen between the blackface and someone standing there in a ku klux klan outfit and me dressed up in a michael jackson costume for a dance contest. now for that press conference, virginia s three most senior democrats called for his resignation, saying they no longer believe northam can effectively serve as governor. president trump also weighed in yesterday criticizing northam s stand on abortion. if northam resigns, virginia s lieutenant governor, justin fairfax, will become the nation s fifth african-american governor ever and the second from the state of virginia.