Justin Fairfax, the former lieutenant governor of Virginia, was a “rising star” in the Democratic Party and seen as having the potential to make it all the way to the White House — until sexual assault allegations against him sank his career.
Fairfax, who killed his wife and then shot himself inside their home early Thursday in the throes of a “messy divorce,” was rising in politics as Barack Obama ascended the presidency. The young black politician was expected to catapult in a similar career trajectory.
That was until two women came forward in 2019 — while he was serving as lieutenant governor — and accused him of sexual assault.
Vanessa Tyson, an associate professor at Scripps College and fellow at Stanford University, accused Fairfax of sexually assaulting her at a hotel at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, saying he forced her to perform oral sex.
Fairfax denied the accusation, saying his encounter with Tyson was consensual. He hired the same legal team that represented Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation process.
Then a second woman, Meredith Watson, came forward claiming Fairfax raped her in a “premeditated and aggressive” attack in 2000 when they were both were undergraduate students at Duke University.
Fairfax also denied that allegation, saying “I have never forced myself on anyone ever.”
He also questioned the timing of the accusations and claimed they were part of a larger conspiracy to force him out of office at a time it looked like he could ascend to become governor of Virginia.
Because, as Fairfax was fighting the allegations, the state’s then-Gov. Ralph Northam (D-Va.), was in his own political crisis. A photo was discovered in his medical school yearbook that showed an unidentified person in blackface and an unidentified person in a Ku Klux Klan hood.
Northam was accused of being the person in blackface. He immediately apologized for the photo but then later back-pedaled, saying he couldn’t remember if it was him or not.
A months-long investigation could not “conclusively” determine who was in the photo or even how the image came to be in the yearbook.
Northam, however, was under heavy pressure to resign, including by members of his own party.
That would have elevated Fairfax to the governor’s mansion.
The allegations against Fairfax appeared when Northam was under pressure to step down.
Fairfax, who was called a “rising star” in the Democratic Party, insinuated they were part of an effort by rival Democrats who wanted the job and wanted to force him to resign and end his political career.
He refused to resign. Northam also served out his term as governor.
Ultimately, no criminal charges were filed and no formal legal finding of wrongdoing was reached in the sexual assault charges.
But the allegations destroyed Fairfax’s promising political career.
He ran for governor in 2021, but finished fourth in the Democratic primary with 3.54% of the vote.
Fairfax remained bitter about the situation. In 2022, he complained he would be governor if not for the allegations. He continually denied them.
“There are some real truth-tellers who cut through the political sensationalism and what is the truth,” Fairfax said. “I would be the only African-American governor in the United States today had it not been for what now appears to be false allegations.”
“This resulted in large part because they wanted to smear me. We have a 400-year history of Black males being falsely accused. Once people find out that it’s not true, it’s extremely difficult to get the politicians and the journalists to admit they were wrong,” he said.