The rape allegations made earlier this year against Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax are now an issue in the state’s legislative elections, with Republicans running a hard-hitting ad against Democrats who refused to listen to the accusations.
One ad running in Northern Virginia’s suburbs begins with video from a CBS interview with two women describing Mr. Fairfax forcing them into sex acts in 2000 and 2004.
Mr. Fairfax has said the encounters were consensual.
He is not on the ballot this year, but all 140 seats in the General Assembly — 100 in the House and 40 in the Senate — are. And Mr. Fairfax, as lieutenant governor, presides over the Senate.
The ad seeks to make Democrats pay for their refusal to give the two women the platform they’d sought to tell their story.
In the ad running against Del. John Bell, a Democrat running for a Senate seat that covers parts of Loudoun and Prince William counties, his GOP opponent says Mr. Bell blocked a legislative hearing for the women, Vanessa Tyson and Meredith Watson, in the assembly.
“John Bell silenced these brave women and blocked a bipartisan independent investigation into the sexual assault allegations against Justin Fairfax. Bell should be ashamed,” the announcer says.
Mr. Bell didn’t respond Saturday morning to messages sent to email addresses for his official and campaign offices.
Mr. Fairfax’s spokeswoman said she would provide a response, but didn’t follow through.
The ad cites a Feb. 21 story in The Richmond Times-Dispatch that detailed the GOP’s efforts to force an investigation. The article does not appear to name Mr. Bell specifically, though Republicans have for months maintained he and several other Democratic delegates seeking Senate seats this year were the blockade.
A top Democrat at the time called the effort to give the women a forum for their complaints “a partisan sideshow.”
The allegations against Mr. Fairfax come against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, in which survivors of sexual harassment and misconduct came forward to voice these stories. As a result, many of the perpetrators were ousted from their top positions in Hollywood, media, business and politics.
A GOP operative in the state said polling shows voters are troubled when told a delegate tried to silence the women. The title of the new ad is “Silenced.”
Mr. Fairfax is one of the three top state officials, all Democrats, all of whom had scandal erupt earlier this year. It began when Gov. Ralph Northam was accused of wearing blackface several decades ago, based on a photo in a medical school yearbook.
The governor apologized, then waffled on whether it was in fact him in the photo, and ultimately rebuffed calls to resign.
Around the same time Attorney General Mark Herring admitted he also had worn blackface.
The allegations against Mr. Fairfax, who is black, then emerged as it became clear he would be in line to assume the governorship should Mr. Northam resign.
Mr. Fairfax last month announced a lawsuit against CBS alleging the broadcast of the women’s claims defamed him.
That move spawned a new round of calls by state Republicans for hearings.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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