Woman details sex accusation roiling Virginia politics

WASHINGTON (AP) — A California woman went public with her sexual assault accusation against Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax today, saying in a statement she repressed the memory for years but came forward in part because of the possibility that the Democrat could succeed a scandal-mired governor.

Vanessa Tyson, a 42-year-old political science professor who studies the intersection of politics and the #MeToo movement, says Fairfax held her head down and forced her to perform oral sex on him in his hotel room at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004.

"I cannot believe, given my obvious distress, that Mr. Fairfax thought this forced sexual act was consensual," Tyson said in a three-page statement issued by her attorney. "To be very clear, I did not want to engage in oral sex with Mr. Fairfax and I never gave any form of consent. Quite the opposite."

The accusation comes amid calls from top Democrats for the resignation of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam over a racist photo that appeared on his 1984 medical school yearbook page. Fairfax, who would be in line to become governor if Northam resigned, said today his sexual encounter with Tyson was consensual and questioned why she waited so long to come forward.

At the time of the 2004 convention, Fairfax, now 39, was a law student serving as an aide to then-Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards.

While Tyson said in her statement she never spoke to Fairfax again, Fairfax said Tyson made efforts to keep in contact with him after their encounter and even wanted him to meet her mother.

"At no time did she express to me any discomfort or concern about our interactions, neither during that encounter, nor during the months following it, when she stayed in touch with me, nor the past 15 years," Fairfax said.

Tyson said today the incident left her feeling deeply humiliated and ashamed but she repressed the memory to focus on her career as an academic. She only began to tell friends about the alleged assault in October 2017, after seeing a photo of Fairfax with an article about his campaign. She said she was inspired in part by the #MeToo movement to contact The Washington Post, which investigated her accusation and decided not to publish a story because it could not corroborate it.

Tyson said she became embroiled in the issue most recently in a cryptic Facebook post she wrote after news stories suggested the racist photo scandal surrounding Northam could elevate Fairfax to the governor's job.

"I felt a jarring sense of both outrage and despair," she said in the statement. "That night I vented my frustration on Facebook in a message that I wrote as a private post. I did not identify Lt. Governor Fairfax by name but stated that it seemed inevitable that the campaign staffer who assaulted me during the Democratic Convention in 2004 was about to get a big promotion."

Fairfax, who has been married since 2006, has called Tyson's accusation part of a political smear campaign. Tyson said she has no political motive and is a "proud Democrat."