All three of the Commonwealth’s statewide elected officers are the subject of scandal.
In a blog post titled “ Yes, Virginia, This is Chaos, ” Larry J. Sabato and Kyle Kondik preface their analysis of the kerfuffle over scandals in the Commonwealth’s politics with a caution that, “Given the fast-moving developments in our home state over the last several days, we hope it’s not obsolete by the time you read it!” Alas, it has been.
After a discussion of the blackface scandal involving Governor Ralph Northam that has been covered extensively already here at OTB, they note that the ordinary successor in the event of a resignation would be Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax but, alas, he, too, is now embroiled in a scandal over alleged sexual misconduct some 15 years back. So, they observe,
In the event that both Northam and Fairfax resign, Attorney General Mark Herring (D) would become governor. In the immediate aftermath of the Northam bombshell and Fairfax’s seemingly likely ascension to the governorship, we thought back to Herring’s decision to defer to Northam in advance of the 2017 election (as it was, Northam did not face an unopposed path to the nomination as former Rep.
