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You are here: Home / Archives for Ralph Northam

Northam Swings from Pariah to Powerhouse

November 11, 2019 at 12:36 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Nine months ago, Democrats at every stratum in Virginia called on Gov. Ralph Northam to resign over a racist photograph on his medical school yearbook page,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Northam bumbled his response, admitting he was in the picture before saying he was not, then seemed like he might demonstrate Michael Jackson’s moonwalk at a news conference where he acknowledged blackening his face for a dance contest.”

“Now, after Democrats won control of the Legislature on Tuesday, Mr. Northam is positioned to be the most consequential Democratic governor in America in 2020, aiming to enact strong gun restrictions and LGBTQ protections and clear the way to take down Confederate statues — all potential headline-making changes that could galvanize the party base nationally in the presidential race.”

Filed Under: State House Tagged With: Ralph Northam

Northam Could Wind Up With Great Power

June 10, 2019 at 7:12 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Gov. Ralph Northam (D) is wielding renewed power as Virginia’s chief executive four months after nearly resigning over a racism scandal that his own party said left him unable to lead,” the Washington Post reports.

“Emboldened by encouraging internal poll numbers and growing support from fellow Democrats — though most never retracted their calls for him to step down — Northam is becoming more assertive.”

Filed Under: State House Tagged With: Ralph Northam

School to Release Findings on Northam’s Racist Photo

May 21, 2019 at 12:44 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Richmond Times Dispatch: “A much-awaited investigation into how a racist yearbook photo wound up on Gov. Ralph Northam’s 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook page is completed and the school will announce the findings Wednesday.”

Filed Under: State House Tagged With: Ralph Northam

Majority Want Northam To Stay In Office

April 10, 2019 at 4:59 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Wason Center poll in Virginia finds that, two months after a blackface scandal led to calls for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s (D) resignation, 52% of Virginians say he should remain in office while 42% say he should resign.

However, Northam’s approval rating is now 40%, which makes him less popular in the state than President Trump, who has an approval rating of 44%.

Filed Under: State House Tagged With: Ralph Northam, VA-Gov

More Virginia Voters Say Northam Should Stay In Office

February 20, 2019 at 10:30 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) “appears to have quelled any widespread public clamor for his resignation in the wake of his blackface scandal,” Politico reports.

“Two new polls out Wednesday show pluralities say the Democrat should not quit or be forced out over a racist photo that appeared on his medical-school yearbook page 35 years ago. Most African-American voters agree that he shouldn’t go, according to one of the surveys.”

Filed Under: State House Tagged With: Ralph Northam

Northam Pledges to Focus on Racial Equity

February 9, 2019 at 1:26 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) told the Washington Post that he believes there is a higher reason for the “horrific” reckoning in the past week over a racist photograph in his medical school yearbook, and that the humbling experience leaves him better positioned to remain in office, explore the issue of “white privilege” and push an agenda of racial reconciliation.

“Northam seemed chastened and subdued as he described a week of grappling with what it means to be white in America, with the reality of African American history, and with the personal failing of growing up after desegregation and the civil rights era while somehow not realizing that donning blackface is offensive.”

Filed Under: Race Tagged With: Ralph Northam

How Northam Plans to Survive

February 8, 2019 at 4:24 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) “is now tightly focused on coming up with plans to survive,” BuzzFeed News reports.

“His office has begun to explore how it might recalibrate Northam’s legislative agenda to focus closely on race and equity… The move would mark a brazen attempt to hang onto his office by shifting the conversation away from Northam’s admission… Northam’s policy team is looking at crafting a set of proposals based on the premise that the governor’s mistakes have rendered him keenly aware of inequity and the lack of justice faced by black Virginians 400 years after the first African people arrived in the Commonwealth, at Point Comfort, in 1619.”

The AP reports Northam “has told his top staff that he does not plan to resign.”

Filed Under: State House Tagged With: Ralph Northam, VA-Gov

Northam Admits Appearing In Racist Yearbook Photo

February 1, 2019 at 5:08 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A photo from Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s (D) medical school yearbook shows two men, one in blackface and one in a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood, on the same page as the governor, the Virginian-Pilot reports.

The Washington Post reports Northam acknowledged appearing in the “clearly racist and offensive” photograph.

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.”

Politico reports the Virginia Republican Party has called on the governor to resign.

Filed Under: Race, State House Tagged With: Ralph Northam

Northam Tries Bipartisanship In Virginia

December 17, 2017 at 9:16 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Virginia Gov.-elect Ralph Northam (D) “has the weight of a Democratic landslide to throw around in the State Capitol, but he’s holding back,” the Washington Post reports.

“He could pluck a few Republicans out of the General Assembly — where the GOP is holding onto the majority by a thread — and give them jobs in his Cabinet to tilt the balance of power toward Democrats. He could try to ram through a broad expansion of Medicaid and other Democratic priorities.”

“But Northam says he is not looking to vanquish the other side.”

Filed Under: State House Tagged With: Ralph Northam, Virginia



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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Follow me on Twitter, Mastodon and Post.News.

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