Senate

Schumer calls on Northam to resign

by Jordain Carney - 02/04/19 11:58 AM ET

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Monday that embattled Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) should resign, following a yearbook photo that surfaced Friday showing a man wearing blackface and another dressed in a Ku Klux Klan robe.

“It’s past time. Governor Northam should resign so Virginia can move forward,” Schumer said in a tweet.

I agree. It’s past time. Governor Northam should resign so Virginia can move forward. https://t.co/QLZgnhdwCI

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) February 4, 2019

Schumer’s comments — the first he’s made since the scandal erupted Friday — join a growing chorus of Democrats pressuring Northam to step down, something the governor has, so far, refused to do.

Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), along with Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), issued a joint statement on Saturday urging him to resign after a widely panned press conference.

“After we watched his press conference today, we called Governor Northam to tell him that we no longer believe he can effectively serve as Governor of Virginia and that he must resign,” they said in a statement.

Though Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) didn’t directly call for Northam’s resignation in a tweet Saturday, she urged him to “do the right thing.”

Northam has faced calls from Democrats and Republicans to resign over a 1984 yearbook photo. He initially apologized on Friday for “the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo.”

He said during a press conference on Saturday that he was “appalled” when his staff showed him the photo on his yearbook page and that he was previously unaware of it.

“When I was confronted with the images yesterday, I was appalled that they appeared on my page, but I believed then and now that I am not either of the people in that photo,” Northam said during a press conference.

The Washington Post reported on Sunday that Northam called for an abrupt senior staff meeting but that he had not made a final decision on whether or not to resign.

Tags Bobby Scott Chuck Schumer Mark Warner Nancy Pelosi Tim Kaine