Governor Ralph Northam is political kryptonite. He is persona non grata everywhere in the Commonwealth and that will directly impact Democrat candidates for elected office this November.
In the wake of Northam’s comments in-favor of infanticide a racist photo from Northam’s medical school yearbook was released. Northam admitted it was him and apologized only to take back that admission the very next day in an embarrassing press conference where he admitted to wearing blackface during another time not pictured in his old yearbook. The calls from Virginia Democrats for Northam to resign after all of that were nearly unanimous.
Northam has ignored those calls for resignation and for some odd reason has decided to launch a listening and healing tour. He hopes to heal racism. In an interview with CBS Northam said, “Virginia needs someone that can heal. There’s no better person to do that than a doctor.” Well, you can always change doctors.
State Senator Dick Black posted the following on his Facebook page-
“The problem with Gov. Northam’s “reconciliation tour” is that he wants to tell people that the rest of us are racist bigots. But he’s the guy who called himself “Coonman” and he’s the man who chose the photo of a KKK man and blackface for his yearbook. Mr. Governor, we never did those things… Don’t go on a “Reconciliation Tour;” go on an apology tour. Don’t smear the rest of us with your own misconduct–take responsibility for it.”
One of the first stops of Northam’s tour was Virginia Union University. He has now canceled the appearance after the student body asked him not to come. How embarrassing.
This kind of cancelation is likely to be repeated. Few want to stand next Northam in public. And with every seat in Virginia’s General Assembly is up for election this year, that will prove a huge problem for fundraising events for Democrat candidates. You won’t see your local delegate candidate have a fundraiser with Northam as the headliner. You likely won’t see Attorney General Mark Herring as a fundraising headliner either after his own blackface admission. And you certainly won’t see Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax anywhere near a campaign.
This scenario, for tremendously different reasons, is still similar to the one Republicans faced in 2013. In that campaign cycle, Republican candidates for elected office chose to ditch the then sitting governor, Bob McDonnell, due to a pending court case. McDonnell was ultimately found not guilty of the bogus accusations of corruption, but that was well after the campaign cycle had ended. The result was the Republican statewide ticket lost a significant opportunity at fundraising and exposure, and created bad press, which contributed to a Democrat sweep of the statewide offices.
The stage is now set for Democrats to experience the same lost opportunity by having to avoid their party’s sitting governor (and LG and attorney general). It will be tough for Democrat candidates to not only fundraise this cycle but also stick to their message if they are constantly asked about the scandals of the three statewide office holders. We can only hope that this lost opportunity at fundraising and exposure, and the distractions caused by the three statewide office holders will help contribute to Republican gains this November.
Governor Ralph Northam is a radical leftist who supports infanticide and has a racist past, and now he is a serious liability for his own party’s chances at the ballot box.
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