Image 01 Image 03

Virginia Tag

Sometimes there are incredible stories that come out, that when you see them you think, "Did that person really say that?" Such was the case for me Friday when I read the news that embattled Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) told reporters he was seriously considering a 2021 gubernatorial run—because the two sexual assault allegations leveled against him earlier this year had raised his profile.

Vanessa Tyson and Meredith Watson, the two women who have accused Democrat Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault and rape, sat down with Gayle King for CBS This Morning to provide details of the incidents. Tyson demanded an investigation from the Virginia legislature while Watson reminded people that she has nothing to gain by coming forward.

What a difference going on groveling apology tours can make for Democrats. Results from two recent Virginia polls show that Gov. Ralph Northam and AG Mark Herring have managed to survive the blackface scandals that rocked the state earlier this month. The sexual assault allegations against Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, however, have divided the state on his fate.

Meredith Watson, the second woman who accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of rape, lashed at out the politician and those who have not called for a public hearing into the accusations in The Washington Post. Watson has accused Fairfax of raping her in 2000 when both of them attended Duke University. She wrote that she came out in an effort to support Professor Vanessa Tyson, the first woman who accused Fairfax of sexual assault:
Despite the professed belief of numerous elected officials in Virginia and elsewhere that Vanessa Tyson, who says that Fairfax sexually assaulted her in 2004, and I have brought forward credible allegations, the Virginia General Assembly has not taken the simple and responsible step of arranging the thorough public hearing that we have sought.