Embattled Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax compares himself to lynching victims

Virginia Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax stunned lawmakers Sunday with an impromptu speech comparing himself to lynching victims from the late-19th and early 20th centuries as he fights to remain in office amid sexual assault allegations.

"I've heard much about anti-lynching on the floor of this very Senate, where people were not given any due process whatsoever, and we rue that," Fairfax said from his rostrum in the Virginia State Senate, referencing legislation the General Assembly passed expressing "profound regret" for lynchings in Virginia between 1877 and 1950.

"And, we talk about hundreds, at least 100 terror lynchings that have happened in the Commonwealth of Virginia under those very same auspices. And yet, we stand here in a rush to judgment with nothing but accusations and no facts and we decide that we are willing to do the same thing," Fairfax added. His remarks, which lasted approximately five minutes, were greeted with stunned silence from state senators.

Fairfax, who is black, has been accused of sexual assault by two women. One of them, Meredith Watson, accused Fairfax of raping her 19 years ago while they were undergraduates at Duke University. The other accuser, Vanessa Tyson, has claimed Fairfax forced her to perform oral sex on him in a Boston hotel room during the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Tyson's lawyer said last week that Tyson planned to meet with prosecutors in Massachusetts to detail her allegations.

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