Two years after two women came forward and accused him of sexual assault, Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax is now running to become the state’s next governor. Not only does he maintain his innocence, he says he was treated like George Floyd and Emmett Till.
“It becomes a complete injustice — and one that mirrors a history of racial injustice — when as an African American, you have no opportunity to establish that these allegations are not true,” Fairfax said in an interview with NPR in March.
While Fairfax, a Democrat, connects the allegations that made national headlines in 2019 to a broader pattern of injustices against Black men, some of Fairfax’s detractors see his staying power as part of a troubling reversal of the #MeToo movement.
Attorney Debra Katz, who represents one of Fairfax’s accusers, points to other men her clients have accused of misconduct yet who remain in public service, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
In the early days of the movement, even when they denied wrongdoing, prominent men accused of misconduct often stepped back from public life, or acknowledged the potential for misunderstandings in sexual situations, and expressed regret for the pain their accusers say they caused. But that has changed, Katz said.
“The fact that Justin Fairfax is still here seems to be exactly what politicians are doing these days: act completely indignant, never apologize, cede no ground,” Katz said. “It seems to be working.”
Fairfax maintains he has nothing to apologize for.
Once a rising star in Virginia politics, the lieutenant governor faces a steep climb to the executive mansion. As of the end of the last campaign finance reports in March, his campaign had around $20,000 cash on hand, compared to $8.5 million for former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, the Democrat who easily leads the polls.
Nor has Fairfax garnered the kind of national press coverage former state Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy and state Sen. Jennifer McClellan have ahead of the June 8 Democratic primary. Both are aiming to become the first Black woman governor in U.S. history.
Still, Fairfax’s critics and boosters alike say he should not be underestimated.
“He still can pull it off,” said Tommy Bennett, a Democratic Party activist in Danville, a small southern Virginia city on the border with North Carolina.
Bennett is one of the roughly 8% of likely Democratic primary voters — and 13% of Black Democratic primary voters — who support Fairfax, based on a poll from Christopher Newport University last month. Bennett, who also serves as president of Danville’s NAACP, said public figures are often targets of fabricated scandals — especially if they’re Black.
“God help what they did to Bill Clinton,” Bennett said. But to him, it “depends on your color — whether you can get away with it or not.”
In an emailed statement, Fairfax’s spokesperson Lauren Burke, also accused NPR of being “a cheerleader for the #MeToo movement and not operating objectively.” She suggested Black men accused in the #MeToo era are “assumed automatically guilty” with no investigation or review of the facts.
Others say Fairfax is unfit for office. Adele McClure, Fairfax’s former policy director, calls Fairfax “vindictive” and says he used his office to bully and discredit his accusers.
