- The Washington Times - Monday, February 4, 2019

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Monday that Virginia Gov. Ralph Northman likely won’t survive the fallout after a racist photo in his 1984 medical school yearbook gained publicity over the weekend.

Mr. Christie, a Republican who faced several controversies during his tenure as governor, said the second biggest issue for Mr. Northam, a Democrat, is how he reacted to the scandal.

“I quite frankly don’t think he’s going to be able to survive this,” Mr. Christie said on CNN.

On Friday, reports surfaced showing a racist photo of a person in blackface standing next to a person in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. At first, Mr. Northam admitted that he was in the picture, but then he recanted the next day and insisted that it wasn’t him nor did he know how it got on his page.

Mr. Christie said Mr. Northam’s reasoning was “all over the place,” which made a bad situation worse. He criticized the governor for having no sense of the truth.

Mr. Northam’s conduct is only part of the reason he most likely can’t come back from this scandal — the Democratic Party doesn’t want to be associated with a such a controversy leading up to the 2020 elections, Mr. Christie said.

Since the initial reports surfaced, several prominent Democrats have called for Mr. Northam’s resignation, including the Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez.

At a press conference over the weekend, Mr. Northman refused to resign and said he has recommitted himself to serving as governor.

• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.

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