RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia braced on Thursday for sustained political upheaval as the crisis of personal conduct that has engulfed the state government’s three leading officials showed no sign of ending.

Although two of the Democratic officials — Governor Ralph Northam, who on Saturday admitted to using blackface in 1984, and Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax, who has been accused of a sexual assault in 2004 — have indicated that they will not resign, Attorney General Mark R. Herring, also a Democrat, has suggested that he could quit after acknowledging Wednesday that he, too, had once worn blackface.

The fast-moving events of the week left just about no one in the Capitol willing to predict what could come next, even in the whispered conversations that have dominated its corridors this week.

“Our diverse commonwealth has been deeply shaken by these developments, but nonetheless remains economically vibrant, fiscally sound, safe and secure,” Kirk Cox, the Republican speaker of the House of Delegates — and a possible governor, under extraordinary circumstances — said in a statement. “We have weathered the storms of four centuries and will weather this one as well.”

On Thursday morning, President Trump adopted a view that was more aggressive and partisan. “Democrats at the top are killing the Great State of Virginia,” he wrote on Twitter, predicting that the commonwealth would return to the Republican column in the 2020 presidential election.

Mr. Trump, who has himself been repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct and racism, argued, “If the three failing pols were Republicans, far stronger action would be taken.”

Lawmakers spent much of Wednesday, and well into Wednesday night, privately considering how to respond to the wave of allegations and accusations that threaten to cripple much of the state’s political leadership. With regard to Mr. Herring, many Democratic officials suggested that they would take their cue from the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, which earlier called for Mr. Northam’s resignation but remained publicly silent through Wednesday‘s maelstrom of developments.

[Read about the chaotic events Wednesday at the Virginia Capitol]

And Republicans, who stand to benefit politically from the turmoil surrounding three of the state’s leading Democrats, were relatively muted under the chaotic circumstances. The Republican Party of Virginia, which previously demanded Mr. Northam’s resignation, called on Wednesday for Mr. Herring’s, but many G.O.P. lawmakers rebuffed requests for comment.

The crisis engulfing Democrats grew worse on Wednesday when Mr. Herring, who was elected attorney general in 2013 and had been expected to mount a viable campaign for governor in 2021, said that, as an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia in 1980, he and friends “dressed up and put on wigs and brown makeup” for a party.

Mr. Herring’s disclosure, made first in a meeting with black lawmakers and then in a public statement, came just days after he called for Mr. Northam to quit. The attorney general said Wednesday said that “honest conversations and discussions will make it clear whether I can or should continue to serve as attorney general.”

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But Democrats and Republicans alike were struggling more broadly about how to respond to the sexual assault allegation against Mr. Fairfax, the lieutenant governor, who has denied any wrongdoing.

In a two-and-a-half-page statement on Wednesday, Vanessa C. Tyson, a college professor, provided a detailed account of her encounter with Mr. Fairfax in 2004, saying that he had forced her to perform oral sex on him.

“I never gave any form of consent,” said Ms. Tyson, whose searing statement recounted a violent attack.

Mr. Fairfax, also seen as a contender for governor in 2021, acknowledged what he described as a “consensual encounter,” but suggested that Ms. Tyson had misrepresented what occurred.

“I take this situation very seriously and continue to believe Dr. Tyson should be treated with respect,” he said in a statement on Wednesday. “But I cannot agree to a description of events that simply is not true.”

Some leading Virginia Democrats, though, began to distance themselves from Mr. Fairfax, suggesting that his political standing could erode quickly.

Representative Jennifer Wexton wrote on Twitter: “I believe Dr. Vanessa Tyson.”

And Representative Bobby Scott said he had known Ms. Tyson as a friend for about a decade and that she “deserves the opportunity to have her story heard.”

Late Wednesday night, aides to Mr. Scott confirmed that in late December 2017 or early January 2018, Dr. Tyson told him that she had made an allegation of sexual assault against Mr. Fairfax, in the course of notifying Mr. Scott that she had given his name as a character reference to The Washington Post, which was investigating the allegation. (The Post did not publish a story at the time because it could not corroborate any of the accounts.)

Mr. Northam, under siege since last Friday, when a racist photograph on his medical school yearbook page was revealed, was silent and secluded. Mr. Northam initially admitted that he had appeared in the yearbook in either blackface or a Ku Klux Klan robe, and apologized to the people of Virginia, but the next day reversed his position. At the same time, he acknowledged a separate episode when he had worn blackface.

The governor, who has not been seen in public since Sunday morning, has signaled that he intends to remain in office.

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