Democrats called for Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam's immediate resignation after the release of an old yearbook photo in which he appears in either blackface or a Ku Klux Klan costume.

One of the pictures on an Eastern Virginia Medical School's 1984 yearbook page included a man in blackface and a bow tie standing next to another person in a Ku Klux Klan-style robe and hood. The photo, first published by conservative blog Big League Politics, spread across social media channels and prompted an apology from Northam.

"I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now," Northam said in a written statement. "This behavior is not in keeping with who I am today and the values I have fought for throughout my career in the military, in medicine, and in public service."

"I recognize that it will take time and serious effort to heal the damage this conduct has caused. I am ready to do that important work."

But despite his apology, Democrats, including candidates in the 2020 US presidential election, have called for his immediate ouster:</s>RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s 1984 yearbook page shows a picture of a person in blackface and another wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood next to different pictures of the governor. The Virginian-Pilot said it obtained a copy of the photo Friday from Eastern Virginia Medical School library, which Northam attended. The photos were first published by the conservative news outlet Big League Politics. The Associated Press confirmed the photos. It’s unclear who the people in the picture are, but the rest of the page is filled with pictures of Northam and lists his undergraduate alma mater and other information about him. The Democratic governor’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment. On the same page is a quote attributed to Northam: “There are more old drunks than old doctors in the world, so I think I’ll have another beer”.

House of Delegates Speaker Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights), Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment, Jr. (R-James City), House Majority Leader Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah), and Senate Rules Committee Chairman Ryan T. McDougle (R-Hanover) today issued the following statement: “This is a deeply disturbing and offensive photograph in need of an immediate explanation by the Governor.”</s>NEA, VEA call for resignation of Gov. Ralph Northam after racist photos emerge

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) today acknowledged that he appeared in a yearbook photo showing a man dressed in blackface and another person wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood. The photo was one of several listed on Northam’s medical school yearbook page of Eastern Virginia Medical School from the year he graduated in 1984.

The following statement was issued jointly on behalf of NEA President Lily Eskelsen García and VEA President Jim Livingston:

“There is no place for Gov. Ralph Northam’s racist actions. Both the National Education Association and the Virginia Education Association strongly condemn them. This goes beyond political affiliation. We must set a better example for our students. The public must have trust and confidence that their elected officials will fight for them, and that trust has been irreparably damaged. Ralph Northam should resign.”</s>RICHMOND, Va. — A photograph of men donning blackface and Ku Klux Klan costumes on Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s yearbook page began circulating the internet Friday afternoon, prompting statements from political figures around the country.

In response to the photo, Richmond mayor Levar Stoney said in a statement, “This is deeply disappointing and offensive. I want to hear what Governor Northam has to say on this.”

The photo, which appears on Northam’s page in an Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook from 1984, also features the accompanying quote: “There are more old drunks than old doctors in this world so I think I’ll have another beer.”

It is unclear if either the person in blackface or the other in the KKK robe is the governor, but it is featured on his yearbook page.</s>Protesters demanding his resignation gather outside the governor's mansion in Richmond on Saturday, February 2, 2019 after a racist photo of Gov. Ralph Northam was found in his 1984 medical school yearbook.</s>Democrats may be fractured on Medicare-for-all and foreign policy, but one thing has united them: a push for Virginia’s Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, to resign.

Party leaders rushed to condemn Northam after news broke about his appearance in a racist photo in his 1984 medical school yearbook. Northam issued an apology for appearing in the photo, which featured a man in blackface along with another in a Klan robe, and indicated he planned to stay in office. But public opinion quickly turned against him.

Presidential contenders Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro all called for Northam’s resignation, along with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who’s also considering running.

Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe (D), with whom Northam served as lieutenant governor, also called on him to resign, saying, “This has been a heartbreaking day. Ralph Northam is my friend and he served well as my Lt. Governor and as Governor. His actions on display in this photo were racist, unacceptable and inexcusable at any age and any time. The situation that he has put himself and the Commonwealth of Virginia in is untenable. It’s time for Ralph to step down, and for the Commonwealth to move forward.”

In Virginia, the full Democratic caucuses of both the state house and senate have called on Northam to step down, leaving him without a single important supporter in his bid to remain in office.

If Northam resigns, he will be replaced by Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, a descendant of slaves who would become only the second black governor in Virginia’s history.</s>WASHINGTON – The backlash was nearly instant.

Within hours of a photo surfacing on Friday that showed Virginia's Democratic governor in a photo showing two people dressed in blackface in Ku Klux Klan robes, a chorus calling for Ralph Northam to resign grew and spread across social media.

The photo was part of Northam's 1984 yearbook during his last year at Eastern Virginia Medical School. A half-page with four photos of Northam included one of two people, one in a blackface costume and the other wearing a KKK robe.

Northam admitted he was in the photo and apologized, but did not detail which of the pictured individuals he was dressed up as.

So, who is Ralph Northam? Here's what you should know:

Northam is widely viewed as a moderate within his party, someone who says he voted twice for former Republican President George W. Bush.

He has described himself as a fiscal conservative but socially liberal, as Northam has advocated for tighter gun laws and loosening abortion restrictions. Republicans in the state at one point tried to recruit Northam to switch parties, according to the New York Times, something Northam rejected.

A former doctor, Northam is soft-spoken and was relatively unknown outside of Virginia when he took up a bid for governor.

Northam entered politics in 2007 when he ran and won a bid to become a state senator. In 2013, he took up a bid for lieutenant governor, winning the post to become second in command for then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

Before his political career, Northam served as a doctor in the U.S. Army and treated soldiers overseas during the Gulf War.

He served eight years in the military and traveled to Germany where he tended to soldiers during Operation Desert Storm.

He attended both Virginia Military Institute and Eastern Virginia Medical School and, after completing his residency, started treating children as a pediatric neurologist.

He continued that work while serving as lieutenant governor, spending his days both at the state capitol and treating children suffering from illnesses.

The deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville stunned the nation and thrust the small, southern city into the epicenter of a radical discussion about race and anti-Semitism.

After the 2017 rally, which left one woman dead and several injured after a neo-Nazi rammed his car into a group of counterprotesters, politics became even divisive.

President Donald Trump cast blame on "both sides" and said "you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides," causing an uproar that took over the news cycle for days.

Northam, after the rally, denounced the "ugly" event and praised the city and its residents for promoting a place that values "openness, diversity and inclusion," according to the Washington Post.

"White supremacists have descended upon Charlottesville again to evoke a reaction as ugly and violent as their beliefs — just as they did before, I am urging Virginians to deny them the satisfaction," Northam said in a statement.

More: 'I am deeply sorry': Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam apologizes for yearbook photo with blackface, KKK costumes

More: Calls for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to resign flood in after blackface, KKK photo surfaces

An effort to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee led to the rally and violence.

Northam, at first, supported the removal of all Confederate statues in the aftermath of the event. He later changed his mind, saying it should be left up to local officials.

Northam ran for governor in 2017 in the aftermath of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, an event that shifted politics in the state.

The rally drew neo-Nazis and members of the alt-right, many of whom carried Confederate flags or wore clothing with Nazi or KKK insignias.

The November 2017 election was one of Virginia's most racially charged in recent memory and ended with Northam beating Republican Ed Gillespie.

Voters were peppered with ads about the Charlottesville unrest.

Many of Northam's attack ads focused on Gillespie's lobbying efforts but one mailer sought to compare Gillespie with the white nationalists who rallied in the city. The mailer, which included a photo of Gillespie and white nationalists, said the election was a chance to "stand up... to hate."

During the 2017 campaign for governor, Northam was one of the candidates that former President Barack Obama supported.

During a rally in October 2017 rally, Obama, the first black president of the U.S., campaigned for Northam and addressed the events of Charlottesville, saying one rises by not repeating the past.

"You know, Ralph believes that if we're going to talk about history hen we should do it in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds, not in a way that divides," Obama said. "We saw what happened in Charlottesville. But we also saw what happened after Charlottesville when the biggest gatherings of all rejected fear and rejected hate."

The former president continued: "That's how we rise. We don't rise up by repeating the past. We rise up by learning from the past and by listening to each other and knowing that we're all flawed. But we still try to preserve some baseline measure of goodness and decency and patriotism and we look for the good in other people, not the worst."</s>Fox News’ Brett Baier weighed in on the controversy surrounding a racist photo on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s medical school yearbook page, and said he believes the coverage would be very different were Northam a Republican.

Baier hosted a panel Friday night to talk about not only the image showing a person in blackface next to someone in Ku Klux Klan garb (Northam admitted he was in the photo but denied it a day later), but also the governor’s controversial comments this week advocating infanticide.

“It’s never a good day for a politician when you are confronted with the yearbook photo and the Washington, D.C., community in your state is trying to figure out whether you were the one in blackface or the one under the Klan hood,” Matthew Continetti, one of the panel members, said. “This is a terrible end of the week for Northam, a week that didn’t start well, either.”

Baier asked Democratic strategist Leslie Marshall whether Northam will step down.

“I’m not sure if he will. … I don’t care if this person is a Democrat or Republican — this is highly offensive. Like you said, he admits he was either in a KKK hood or in blackface,” Marshall said.

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“Is there one that’s worse than the other for the governor?” Baier asked.

“No. I’m simply saying that if we are going to have a zero tolerance policy in politics, in today, in 2019, that has to be zero tolerance across the board,” she said.

Marshall also said she hoped it would not just be Republicans calling on the Democratic governor to resign.

“All I know is that the coverage of this would be a lot different if it was in a different prism,” Baier said. “If it was a Republican governor, I think it might be leading a lot of the newscasts that it’s not leading currently.”

“And I also think it’s really interesting in the context here,” he continued. “Obviously, this is tremendously offensive and horrible. But the earlier comments about what many considered infanticide, about keeping a baby comfortable outside the womb and then making a decision whether to move forward with killing that baby, didn’t get a lot of coverage comparative to this.”

After the news broke of the racist yearbook photo, Northam apologized Friday evening.

On Saturday afternoon, however, the governor retracted parts of his statement and claimed he was not actually in the photo.

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“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.

“While I did not appear in this photo, I am not surprised by its appearance in the (Eastern Virginia Medical School) yearbook,” he said. “In the place and time where I grew up, many actions that we rightfully recognize as abhorrent today were commonplace.

“My belief that I did not wear that costume or attend that party stems in part from my clear memory of other mistakes I made in the same period of my life.”

Northam has yet to resign from his position as governor despite calls from many prominent Democrats to do so.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.</s>Ralph Northam, the Democratic governor of Virginia apologized on Friday after a yearbook photo emerged of two men, one of them Northam, wearing blackface and Klan outfits.

Said Northam: “I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now. This behavior is not in keeping with who I am today and the values I have fought for throughout my career in the military, in medicine and in public service. But I want to be clear, I understand how this decision shakes Virginians’ faith in that commitment. I recognize that it will take time and serious effort to heal the damage this conduct has caused. I am ready to do that important work. The first step is to offer my sincerest apology and to state my absolute commitment to living up to the expectations Virginians set for me when they elected me to be their governor.”

Northam released a video later on Friday evening that said he would continue to serve out his term.

Said Northam: “I accept responsibility for my past actions, and I am ready to do the hard work of regaining your trust.”

Friday evening there were growing calls for Northam’s resignation.

Said Jack Wilson, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia: “Racism has no place in Virginia. These pictures are wholly inappropriate. If Governor Northam appeared in blackface or dressed in a KKK robe, he should resign immediately.”

Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro was the first 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to call on Northam to resign.

He was followed by Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Sherrod Brown, John Delaney, and potential candidates Eric Swalwell, John Hickenlooper, and Terry McAuliffe.

And NJ Governor Phil Murphy called on Northam to resign.

Said Murphy to Chris Hayes: “We’re the party of Barack Obama. We’re the party of inclusion. We’ve got a president who wants to divide us. I’m a former member of the national board of the NAACP. The Ku Klux Klan was a terrorist––is a terrorist organization…I don’t see the governor’s got any other choice other than to step aside.”

CNN’s Don Lemon addressed the controversy on his show.

Said Lemon: “There are certain situations…where there’s no ‘both sides.’ There’s no both sides to racism. There’s no both sides to sexism. There’s no both sides to fact or non-fact and reality and non-reality. There’s no both sides to a truth and a lie. There’s no both sides to this….If you’re making an excuse for it, you need to check yourself. If you even thought it was okay or you’re somebody like Ralph Northam, then you owe people like me a huge apology before you get on your high horse and get upset…Democrats who have called out President Trump for his racist remarks cannot try to sweep this one under the rug just because Ralph Northam is one of their own.”</s>Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's medical school yearbook page surfaced Friday, containing a photograph of two unidentified men -- one appears to be wearing blackface standing next to another in a Ku Klux Klan costume.

The page, which was first reported by the Virginian-Pilot, is from the 1984 East Virginia Medical School yearbook, the year which Northam graduated. Northam is a pediatrician.

An accompanying quote under the photo reads: "There are more old drunks than old doctors in this world so I think I'll have another beer."

Northam released a statement Friday afternoon apologizing for the photo, saying, "I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now."

"This behavior is not in keeping with who I am today and the values I have fought for throughout my career in the military, in medicine, and in public service. But I want to be clear, I understand how this decision shakes Virginians' faith in that commitment," Northam said. "I recognize that it will take time and serious effort to heal the damage this conduct has caused. I am ready to do that important work. The first step is to offer my sincerest apology and to state my absolute commitment to living up to the expectations Virginians set for me when they elected me to be their Governor."

CBS News uncovered a page from Northam's yearbook at the Virginia Military Institute which had nicknames listed underneath his name. One of them was "Coonman," a racial slur.

A reporter from CBS News affiliate News 3, Brendan Ponton, went to the Eastern Virginia Medical School library in Norfolk Friday afternoon and found the page on which the photo appears. The image in the yearbook caps off a difficult week for Northam. Earlier this week, he was criticized for comments he made about late-term abortion.

A new bill proposed in the state legislature would loosen restrictions on abortions during the third trimester of pregnancy, and allow abortions during the second trimester to take place outside hospitals. The bill would require only one doctor to make the determination that the pregnancy threatens the woman's life or health. The proposed legislation would also eliminate the requirement that abortions during the second trimester be performed in a state-licensed hospital.

Northam came under fire for comments he made on WTOP radio Wednesday when asked about the bill.

"When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of obviously the mother, with the consent of the physicians, more than one physician, by the way," Northam said. "And it's done in cases where there any be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that's non-viable. So in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother. So I think this was really blown out of proportion."

At a press conference Thursday, Northam said his words had been misinterpreted.

"We're here to set the record straight. Virginia Democrats are on the side of ensuring women get the health care they need," Northam said. Northam also accused Republicans of being uncivil in their response to the bill. "Virginia Democrats know that we're better than that," he said.
Republican and Democratic leaders call for the resignation of Virginian Governor Ralph Northam after a 1984 yearbook photograph apparently featuring Northam surfaces showing one person wearing blackface and another person wearing Ku Klux Klan attire.