Embattled Northam to meet with Cabinet as he seeks allies

The Democratic governor hastily called a meeting of his top administration officials of color on Sunday night to see if anyone closely connected with him would be willing to stand with him during a firestorm of controversy over a racist photo that appeared on his page of his 1984 medical school yearbook, and not one person told the governor that he should stay and fight, a source with knowledge of the conversation said.

Here's who has called for Ralph Northam's resignation

On Monday morning, his Cabinet will gather in a regularly scheduled meeting, and shortly after, an all-staff meeting is planned. Those meetings could provide an important clue as to whether or not Northam can continue to stay in power or if he will ultimately make the decision to step down.

At this point, there is no sign of a rallying around the embattled governor, something that will need to happen if he hopes to meet his own personal standard of staying on only if he can continue to effectively govern.

After initially saying Friday night that he was in the photo which shows one person dressed in blackface and another in the KKK's signature white hood and robes, Northam is now insistent that he is not one of the two people pictured. He is hoping to convince those under his charge that he be given the opportunity to explain what happened and that the picture does not reflect the person he is.

McAuliffe predicts Northam 'will do the right thing'

The governor had hoped a news conference on Saturday afternoon would turn the tide in his favor. He attempted to make the case that he was not the person in the photo, but did so by admitted to appearing in blackface at another time that same year, at a dance competition in San Antonio.

The fallout from the news conference was swift and damning. Many of the prominent leaders who had already called for his resignation renewed that call. The few that had held back then called for him to step down, including the state's two US senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, who had been privately encouraging him to resign.

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