Career
Cunningham began her legal career in the law department of the Ford Motor Company,specializing in labor law. After three years,she accepted a position with Reynolds Metals Company and moved to Richmond,Virginia. The company merged with Alcoa and she ultimately retired as vice president of human resources of the Integris Metals subsidiary. [2]
A Democrat,Cunningham won a special election in 1985 for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates,representing District 71 which included parts of Richmond and Henrico County. She succeeded Dr. Benjamin Lambert who was elected to the Virginia Senate. Cunningham won re-election many times before announcing her retirement from that part-time position in 1997. [3] [4] Viola Baskerville then won election to represent the 71st district.
After her retirement as a delegate and as a corporate attorney,Cunningham worked part-time as a mediator. She also served as Chair of the State Board of Elections and as a member of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia before Governor Terry McAuliffe appointed her to the Virginia Parole Board in January 2017. [5]
In addition to being active in her Baptist Church,Cunningham is or was also active in the National Coalition of 100 Black Women,Delta Sigma Theta,the James River Valley Chapter of The Links,Inc.,Richmond Renaissance,Richmond Community Development Organization,Richmond Crusade for Voters,Virginia State Crime Commission,Virginia State Coordinating Council on Domestic Violence,as well with the Virginia Association of Black Women Attorneys,Old Dominion Bar Association and Metro Richmond Women's Bar Association. [6] She has earned and Outstanding Legislator Award from the Virginia Interfaith Center,as well as the NAACP's Lifetime Achievement Award. [2]
Gerald Lee Baliles was a Virginia lawyer and Democratic politician whose career spanned great social and technological changes in his native state. The 65th Governor of Virginia, the native of Patrick County previously served as the Commonwealth's attorney general (1982–85), and represented Richmond and Henrico County in the Virginia House of Delegates (1972-1982). After another stint in private legal practice, with Hunton & Williams (1991-2005), Baliles directed the nonpartisan Miller Center of Public Affairs associated with his alma mater, the University of Virginia (2006-2014).
Mary Sue Terry is an American Democratic politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Brian Joseph Moran is an American politician and a member of the Democratic Party. He served as Virginia Secretary of Public Safety from 2014 to 2022, and was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1996 until 2008, representing Northern Virginia's 46th district.
Robert Murphy Mayo was a Virginia lawyer, Confederate officer and politician who served in the Virginia House of Delegates and briefly in the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Readjuster Party.
Anne Bright Holton is an American lawyer and judge who served as the Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia from 2014 to 2016. She is married to United States Senator and former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, the vice presidential running mate of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
Vivian Edna Watts is an American politician who is serving as a Democrat in the Virginia House of Delegates. She currently represents the 39th district, which includes part of Fairfax County.
Joseph Dee Morrissey is an American Democratic politician, businessman, and former lawyer who won election to both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly from districts including Richmond or surrounding Henrico County, Virginia. He represented Virginia's 16th Senate district from 2020 to 2024, having been elected during the 2019 election. He represented much of southern Richmond, as well as all of the cities of Petersburg and Hopewell and portions of Chesterfield, Dinwiddie and Prince George counties. He lost the 2023 Democratic primary for his district.
Jennifer Leigh McClellan is an American politician and attorney who has served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 4th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she represented the 9th district in the Virginia State Senate from 2017 to 2023 and the 71st district in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2009 to 2017. She ran in the Democratic primary for governor of Virginia in the 2021 election, losing to former governor Terry McAuliffe.
The following offices were up for election in the United States Commonwealth of Virginia in the November 2009 general election:
Christopher Todd Gilbert is an American politician and attorney. He previously served as the 57th Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates from 2022 to 2024. He has been a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates since 2006, representing the 15th district in the Shenandoah Valley and Blue Ridge Mountains, made up of Page and Shenandoah Counties, plus parts of Rockingham and Warren Counties.
Christopher Kilian Peace is an American politician of the Republican Party.
The 2013 Virginia gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 2013, to elect the governor of Virginia. The incumbent governor, Republican Bob McDonnell, was not eligible to run for re-election due to term limits established by the Virginia Constitution. Virginia is the only state that prohibits its governor from serving immediate successive terms.
Benjamin Joseph Lambert, III was an American optometrist, community leader and politician. A Democrat, Lambert served for more than three decades in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, initially in the Virginia House of Delegates and then in the Senate.
The 2017 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 2017. After the party primary elections were held, the major party nominees were Jill Vogel (Republican) and Justin Fairfax (Democrat). The incumbent Lieutenant Governor, Democrat Ralph Northam, declined to run for re-election in order to run for Governor. In the general election on November 7, 2017, Democratic nominee Justin Fairfax defeated Republican state Senator Jill Vogel to become the 41st Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. This is the last time that a Democrat won the lieutenant governorship in Virginia.
The 2017 Virginia Attorney General election was held on November 7, 2017. The incumbent attorney general, Democrat Mark Herring, was expected to run for governor, but announced he would run for re-election instead. As only Herring and Republican John Adams qualified for their respective party primaries, the two automatically became their parties' nominees. In the general election, Herring defeated Adams to win a second term as Attorney General of Virginia.
Jason Stuart Miyares is an American attorney and politician serving as the 48th Attorney General of Virginia since 2022. A Republican, he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2015, from the 82nd district in northeastern Virginia Beach, and served three terms from 2016 to 2022. He was elected Attorney General of Virginia in 2021. The son of a refugee, he is the first Hispanic elected statewide in Virginia.
Kelly Teal Thomasson Mercer is an American Democratic politician, who served as the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia from April 2016 to January 2022. Initially appointed by Governor Terry McAuliffe, she continued as Secretary under the administration of Governor Ralph Northam. Prior to her appointment as Secretary, Thomasson served as Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth under Governor McAuliffe.
Frederick Thomas Gray was a Virginia attorney and Democratic Party politician. Governor J. Lindsay Almond appointed Gray to serve as Attorney General of Virginia after the resignation of Attorney General Albertis Harrison to run for Governor of Virginia during the Massive Resistance crisis in Virginia. Gray returned to private practice at Williams Mullen after Robert Young Button took office. Gray later served in the Virginia House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate as he continued his law practice.
Nancy Rodrigues is the Deputy Director of the 2019 Commemoration and former Virginia Secretary of Administration under Governor Terry McAuliffe. She was appointed to this position by Governor McAuliffe in December 2013, after nearly 30 years in public service and government.
The 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the next governor of Virginia. The election was concurrent with other elections for Virginia state offices. Incumbent Democratic Governor Ralph Northam was ineligible to run for re-election, as the Constitution of Virginia prohibits governors from serving consecutive terms. Businessman Glenn Youngkin won the Republican nomination at the party's May 8 convention, which was held in 37 polling locations across the state, and was officially declared the nominee on May 10. The Democratic Party held its primary election on June 8, which former Governor Terry McAuliffe easily won.
