At the same time, a powerful Republican state senator faced questions about his role as a top editor of a college yearbook that contained several racist photographs.
The developments had lawmakers here bracing for a sustained upheaval as the scandal involving the personal conduct of leading government officials showed no sign of ending.
Although two leading Democratic officials — Gov. Ralph Northam, who on Saturday admitted to using blackface in 1984, and Fairfax, who has been accused of a sexual assault in 2004 — have indicated that they will not resign, Attorney General Mark R. Herring, also a Democrat, has suggested that he could quit after acknowledging Wednesday that he, too, had once worn blackface.
In Washington, the Virginia congressional delegation met privately to consider what to say about the growing scandal that is crippling the state government.
Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat and former governor, suggested that Herring’s contrition and apology to black legislators on Wednesday may preserve his job.
“He reached out to each of us individually, very apologetic, he is in dialogue with the legislative black caucus and African-American leadership in the state and they have been impressed with his sincerity while they’ve been very disappointed with what happened,” Kaine said.
But the senator was more guarded on Fairfax, who has denied allegations by a California professor, Vanessa C. Tyson, that he sexually assaulted her.
That cautious approach was echoed by other leading national Democrats, who called for an investigation rather than Fairfax’s resignation, while stating that Tyson’s claims should be taken seriously.
At midday Thursday, the allegations involving racist history spread to Republicans for the first time when The Virginian-Pilot first reported that Senate majority leader Thomas K. Norment Jr. helped oversee a Virginia Military Institute yearbook that featured racist photographs and slurs, including blackface.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.