Official Virginia Legislative Black Caucus Statement

Link to tweet

Also, there was some racial friction during the campaign.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/reeks-of-subtle-racism-tensions-after-black-candidate-left-off-fliers-in-virginia/2017/10/18/de74c47a-b425-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html?utm_term=.52927a7348fe

Virginia Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Ralph Northam omitted any mention of Justin Fairfax, the party's African American candidate for lieutenant governor, from about a thousand pieces of campaign literature, which Fairfax called a "mistake." The incident has stoked tensions within the Democratic ticket, threatening to alienate African American voters three weeks before Election Day.

The palm cards with photos of Northam and Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) were produced for canvassers with the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA), which asked that Fairfax be excluded because it did not endorse him. Fairfax has spoken critically of two proposed natural gas pipelines that the union supports.

SNIP

"It reeks of subtle racism, if not a tone deafness about how we are going to win in November," said Quentin James, the founder of Collective PAC that supports black candidates, including Fairfax. "Leaving Justin Fairfax off .?.?. even if it's only for a small universe of union members, still sends the wrong message."

In an interview Wednesday, Fairfax called the move to exclude him a "mistake" by the Northam campaign but wouldn't call it racism.