The Furor in Virginia Has Quieted

The bonfire of scandals in Virginia politics has seemingly burned down to embers as top Democrats have come to accept that their tainted leaders will not be leaving office, at least not anytime soon. While most party elites have not withdrawn their calls for resignation, a week of détente and two television appearances on Sunday suggest that the furor has quieted.

Governor Ralph Northam faced demands to step down over a picture on his medical-school yearbook page that showed a man in blackface and another in Ku Klux Klan garb; he initially admitted to appearing in the photo, then reversed himself and said he was not either of the people in costume, resignation calls and an impeachment threat after two allegations of sexual assault in the early 2000s, both of which he denied. Attorney General Mark Herring stepped up and confessed that he, too, once wore blackface to a party as a 19-year-old, though he has largely avoided calls to step down.