John William Warner III was an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term Republican U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1979 to 2009. He served as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1999 to 2001, and from 2003 to 2007. Warner also served as the chairman of the Senate Rules Committee from 1995 to 1999.
Robert Cortez Scott is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 3rd congressional district since 1993. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the dean of Virginia's congressional delegation and the first Filipino American voting member of Congress. The district serves most of the majority-black precincts of Hampton Roads, including all of the independent cities of Norfolk, Newport News, Hampton and Portsmouth, and parts of the independent city of Chesapeake. From 2019 to 2023, Scott was chair of the House Education and Labor Committee. He has been ranking member on that committee since 2023.
Gerald Lee Baliles was an American lawyer and Democratic politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia 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).
Timothy Michael Kaine is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 70th governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, and as the 38th lieutenant governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006. Kaine was the Democratic nominee for vice president of the United States in the 2016 election as Hillary Clinton's running mate.
Robert Francis McDonnell is an American politician, attorney, businessman, academic administrator, and former military officer who served as the 71st governor of Virginia from 2010 to 2014. He is a member of the Republican Party.
David B. Albo is a retired Republican politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia, USA. He represented the 42nd district of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1994 to 2018.
The Democratic Party of Virginia is the Virginia affiliate of the Democratic Party based in Richmond, Virginia.
The politics of Virginia have followed major historical events and demographic changes in the commonwealth. In the 21st century, the northern region has become more liberal in attitudes and voting, constituting a reliable voting bloc for Democrats and joining with population centers in the Richmond Metropolitan and Hampton Roads areas to dominate the state. Political orientation varies by region, with the larger cities and suburban areas generally voting Democratic and the rural areas voting Republican. The southern, rural regions have remained Republican. Until 2021 when the GOP swept all statewide offices, Virginia was shifting more Democratic and now is considered a swing state again by most pundits.
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.
Kenneth Cooper Alexander is an American politician currently serving as mayor of Norfolk, Virginia.
Thomas Warren Moss, Jr. was an American politician, most recently serving as the City Treasurer of Norfolk, a post to which he was elected in 2001. Prior to that, he served 36 years as a Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates, and was its Speaker 1991–2000.
David William Marsden is an American politician of the Democratic Party. In 2010 he was elected to represent the 37th district, a portion of Fairfax County, in the Senate of Virginia, and later re-elected to the senate. Between 2006 and 2010, he served in the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 41st district. Prior to his career in politics he spent 17 years as head of the Fairfax County Juvenile Detention Center until 1999. In 2000 Governor Jim Gilmore appointed him Chief Deputy and then Acting Director of the 2,700-person Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice. He then served for 6 months in the administration of Governor Mark Warner.
Elections in Virginia are authorized under Article I of the Virginia State Constitution, sections 5–6, and Article V which establishes elections for the state-level officers, cabinet, and legislature. Article VII section 4 establishes the election of county-level officers. Elections are regulated under state statute 24.2-102. The Virginia State Board of Elections oversees the execution of elections under state law. In a 2020 study, Virginia was ranked as the 12th easiest state for citizens to vote in.
Scott Anthony Surovell is an American lawyer and politician serving as a member of the Virginia Senate, representing the 34th district, which encompasses portions of Fairfax roughly following U.S. Route 1, Kingstowne and Lorton. He previously represented the 36th district which also included portions of Prince William and Stafford counties until the 2023 redistricting and the 44th district in the Virginia House of Delegates. He is a Democrat.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the U.S. state of Virginia enjoy the same rights as non-LGBT people. LGBT rights in the state are a recent occurrence with most improvements in LGBT rights occurring in the 2000s and 2010s. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Virginia since October 6, 2014, when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider an appeal in the case of Bostic v. Rainey. Effective July 1, 2020, there is a state-wide law protecting LGBT persons from discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and credit. The state's hate crime laws also now explicitly include both sexual orientation and gender identity.
Alfonso Hoffman Lopez is an American politician, former Obama administration official, and member of the Virginia House of Delegates. He has served in the House of Delegates since January 2012, representing the 49th district, which includes parts of southern Arlington and eastern Fairfax Counties, in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Joseph Cornell Lindsey is a Virginia judge in the Fourth Judicial Circuit. Formerly a lawyer in private practice in Norfolk, substitute judge in that court for 16 years and Democratic politician, he represented (part-time) the 90th district in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2014 until November 15, 2020, when he resigned to accept the judicial appointment; fellow Democrat Angelia Williams Graves succeeded to the seat.
Virginia's 89th House of Delegates district elects one of 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates, the lower house of the state's bicameral legislature. District 89, consisting of parts of Norfolk, Virginia, is currently represented by Democrat Jackie Glass.
Jerrauld C. C. "Jay" Jones is an American politician and attorney serving as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from the 89th district. In July 2020, Jones announced his candidacy for attorney general of Virginia in the 2021 election. Jones lost the Democratic primary to incumbent Mark Herring, despite receiving an endorsement from Governor Ralph Northam. In December 2021, Jones announced his resignation to focus on family.
The 161st Virginia General Assembly, consisting of members who were elected in both the House election and Senate election in 2019, convened on January 8, 2020. It was the first time Democrats held both houses of the General Assembly and the governorship since the 147th General Assembly in 1993.