The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 1619. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members, and an upper house, the Senate of Virginia, with 40 members. Senators serve terms of four years, and Delegates serve two-year terms. Combined, the General Assembly consists of 140 elected representatives from an equal number of constituent districts across the commonwealth. The House of Delegates is presided over by the Speaker of the House, while the Senate is presided over by the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. The House and Senate each elect a clerk and sergeant-at-arms. The Senate of Virginia's clerk is known as the "Clerk of the Senate".
The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virginia. Prior to the American War of Independence, the upper house of the General Assembly was represented by the Virginia Governor's Council, consisting of up to 12 executive counselors appointed by the colonial royal governor as advisers and jurists.
Patrick Henry Drewry was a Virginia lawyer and Democratic politician who served in the United States House of Representatives and state senate.
Benjamin Franklin Buchanan was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 21st Lieutenant Governor of Virginia from 1918 to 1922.
The 109th Virginia General Assembly was the meeting of the legislative branch of the Virginia state government from 1916 to 1918, after the 1915 state elections. It convened in Richmond for one session, which started on January 12, 1916, and ended on March 18, 1916.
John Preston Buchanan was an American politician who served as a member of the Virginia Senate, representing the state's 1st district.
William Alonzo Rinehart was an American Democratic politician who served as a member of the Virginia Senate, representing the state's 7th district.
George Newton Conrad was an American Democratic politician who served as a member of the Virginia Senate, representing the state's 8th district.
Cornelius Theodore Jordan was an American educator and politician who served as a member of the Virginia Senate, representing the state's 9th district. In 1915, he ran for Senate as an Independent, defeating Democratic incumbent William H. Landes. After caucusing with the chamber's Democrats during his four-year term, he won the party's nomination in 1919 but was bested in the general election by Independent F. Percy Loth. From 1896 to 1899, he was the President of New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, which would later become New Mexico State University.
Henry Hawkins Downing was an American Democratic politician who served as a member of the Virginia Senate, representing the state's 12th district.
Richard Ewell Thornton was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served as a member of the Virginia Senate, representing the state's 14th district from 1908 to 1920.
Thomas Scott Hening was an American medical doctor and Democratic politician who served as a member of the Virginia Senate. There he represented the state's 16th district from 1916 to 1924.
Sands Gayle was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served as a member of the Virginia Senate, representing the state's 18th district.
Walter Edmund Addison was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served as a member of the Virginia Senate, representing the state's 20th district.
The 108th Virginia General Assembly was the meeting of the legislative branch of the Virginia state government from 1914 to 1916, after the 1913 state elections. It convened in Richmond for two sessions.
Alexander George Crockett was an American Democratic politician who served as a member of the Virginia Senate, representing the state's 5th district.
Louis Otto Wendenburg was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served as a member of the Virginia Senate, representing the state's 35th district.
John Benjamin Watkins was a Democratic politician who served as a member of the Virginia Senate twice, first representing the state's 16th district, and a second time representing the 35th district, comprising Henrico, Chesterfield, New Kent, Charles City, and James City Counties and the City of Williamsburg . A businessman, Senator Watkins started a nursery with his brother in Midlothian, Virginia. John B. Watkins is the great-grandfather of Virginia State Senator John Watkins, who represents some of the same localities in the current Virginia Senate as well as continuing to operate the family nursery business.
James Edmundson Cannon was an American Democratic politician who represented the City of Richmond in the Virginia Senate.
Edward Griffith Dodson was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who was Clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1934 to 1962, and author of much-used biographical compilations of Virginia public officials.
