Meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax—who would become governor if Northam stepped down—denied a sexual assault accusation from 2004 at an impromptu news conference Monday. The accuser alleges Fairfax forced himself on her in a hotel room in 2004 after they met at the Democratic National Convention. Fairfax maintains the encounter was consensual. Fairfax’s staffers also said that The Washington Post investigated the allegation before Fairfax’s inauguration but did not run the story because they were unable to substantiate the claims.