The more I think about this the more convinced I am that the picture from the yearbook page came from the Dems themselves
Why?
-- The timing. His very public support for the infanticide bill had been dominating the news and embarrassing them (kill a breathing baby post-birth?). So they bumped that story off the news cycle
-- The Lt Gov is a black guy who is further to the left of Northam, so he is more representative of what they got going on these days.
-- Northam is white and hetero, their least favored class right now.
-- Lastly, if Rs already had this, they would have used it to help Ed Gillespie win (you could argue they should have had it, but that is b/w Gillespie and whoever he contracted for his oppo research)
It is interesting to watch where they draw the line. Wanting to murder babies is fine but a 35-year old foto is too much