Calls are mounting for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to resign after a racist photo of him from his medical school yearbook was revealed Friday.
Members of the Democrat’s own party were leading the charge.
“His actions on display in this photo were racist, unacceptable and inexcusable at any age and any time,” Northam’s predecessor Terry McAuliffe tweeted Friday.
The photo, from 1984, shows one man in a KKK hood and another in blackface. Northam, 59, apologized Friday for appearing in the image, though he did not say which offensive costume he wore.
Presidential hopefuls including US Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) joined the chorus.
“These images arouse centuries of anger, anguish and racist violence and they’ve eroded all confidence in Gov. Northam’s ability to lead. We should expect more from our elected officials. He should resign,” Booker said.
The Virginia Black Caucus called for his resignation after initially declining to do so earlier Friday as the story broke.
“We just finished meeting with the Governor. We fully appreciate all that he has contributed to our Commonwealth,” the group said in a statement. “But given what was revealed today, it is clear that he can no longer effectively serve as Governor. It is time for him to resign, so that Virginia can begin the process of healing.”
Republicans also have begun calling on Northam to resign.
“This should be easier work than parsing every word and semicolon in the Kavanaugh yearbook,” tweeted White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, referencing the contentious Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.