Sen. Kamala Harris of California called on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to resign Friday after he admitted appearing in a 1984 yearbook photo showing one person in a Ku Klux Klan robe and another in blackface.
Harris, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, was one of the first members of Congress to say Northam should step aside.
"Leaders are called to a higher standard, and the stain of racism should have no place in the halls of government," Harris said on Twitter.
Her statement came shortly after one of her White House rivals, former Housing Secretary Julian Castro of Texas, said Northam, a fellow Democrat, should resign.
"It doesn't matter if he is a Republican or a Democrat," Castro wrote on Twitter. "This behavior was racist and unconscionable."
Northam, a pediatric neurologist, released a statement saying he was "deeply sorry" that he appeared in the Eastern Virginia Medical School photo, but he did not specify whether he was in blackface or wearing the KKK robe.
Northam graduated from the school in 1984. The yearbook photo was posted Friday by the conservative website Big League Politics.
Northam's statement gave no sign that he would resign.
The outcry among civil rights leaders and liberal groups was immediate.
"While we are mindful that youth and young adults can make regrettable mistakes that may merit leniency, this image perpetuates some of the worst hate in our nation's history and undermines the ability of all Virginians _ particularly those of color _ to have faith in the integrity of their governor," said Janai Nelson of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and liberal advocacy groups MoveOn and Democracy for America all demanded Northam's resignation. The Republican Governors Association also called on him to quit.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, another Democrat running for president, told CNN that she hadn't yet seen the photo but said it sounded "very disturbing and racist."
"I think he needs to explain to the voters of Virginia what that was about, and I think he needs to apologize," she said.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat who is also expected to run for president, urged Northam on Twitter to "step down, seek forgiveness, and through good deeds earn the respect of the African-American Community."
"No, you can't wear a black face or a white hood and lead a state," he wrote. "Not now and not ever."
