Virginia Governor Calls for Urgent Staff Meeting, ABC 7 Says

(Bloomberg) -- Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, who’s facing calls from leading Democrats to resign over a racist photo from a 1984 medical school yearbook, has called for an “urgent meeting” with his top-level staff, the Washington affiliate of ABC News reported.

The staff in the meeting include Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, ABC 7 News reported, without saying where it got the information. NBC News’s local affiliate said the meeting started at 6 p.m. local time.

Read: Virginia Governor Hasn’t Reached Decision, Washington Post Says

Northam said he won’t quit during a televised press conference on Saturday at the state Executive Mansion in Richmond to address what he earlier called a “clearly racist and offensive” photograph on his medical school yearbook page from 1984 that surfaced on Friday.

“I am not the person in the photo that caused a stir yesterday,” Northam said. “That’s not me in that photo.” The denial failed to silence calls for the governor to quit.

Democrats, including multiple 2020 presidential candidates, his home state’s Democratic Party, the Democratic National Committee, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Joe Biden, all earlier called on Northam to resign, as did many Republicans. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both former governors of Virginia, and Congressman Bobby Scott added to the calls for Northam to step down after watching the press conference. President Donald Trump also weighed in on the debate.

--With assistance from Mark Niquette, Ben Livesey, Sarah Kopit, Hailey Waller and Melissa Cheok.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kim Chipman in Washington at kchipman@bloomberg.net;Susan Decker in Washington at sdecker1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Derek Wallbank at dwallbank@bloomberg.net, Mark Niquette, Ros Krasny

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