Virginia General Assembly

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Virginia General Assembly

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General information
Type:   State legislature
Term limits:   None
Session start:   January 8, 2025
Website:   Official Legislature Page
Leadership
Senate President:   Winsome Earle-Sears (R)
House Speaker:  Don Scott (Virginia) (D)
Majority Leader:   Senate: Scott Surovell (D)
House: Charniele Herring (D)
Minority Leader:   Senate: Ryan McDougle (R)
House: Todd Gilbert (R)
Structure
Members:  40 (Senate), 100 (House)
Length of term:   4 years (Senate), 2 years (House)
Authority:   Art IV, Virginia Constitution
Salary:   $18,000/year for senators. $17,640/year for delegates. + per diem
Elections
Last election:  November 7, 2023
Next election:  November 4, 2025
Redistricting:  Virginia Legislature has control

The Virginia General Assembly is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its existence dates from the establishment of the House of Burgesses at Jamestown in 1619. It became the General Assembly in 1776 with the ratification of the Virginia Constitution.

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 Virginia State Senate, with 40 members. The House of Delegates is presided over by a speaker of the house, while the State Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virginia. The House and Senate each elect a clerk and sergeant-at-arms. Unlike the United States Senate, the Virginia's State Senate clerk is known as the "Clerk of the Senate," instead of the title "Secretary of the Senate" used in the U.S. Senate.

The General Assembly meets in Virginia's capital, Richmond. When sitting in Richmond, the General Assembly holds sessions in the Virginia State Capitol, designed by Thomas Jefferson in 1788 and expanded in 1904. The building was renovated in 2005-2006. Senators and delegates have their offices in the General Assembly Building across the street directly north of the Capitol. The governor of Virginia lives across the street directly east of the Capitol in the Virginia Governor's Mansion.

The Virginia General Assembly is the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere. It previously met in Jamestown, Virginia from 1619 until 1699, when it moved to Williamsburg, Virginia and met in the colonial Capitol. The government was moved to Richmond in 1780 during the administration of Governor Thomas Jefferson, and the General Assembly has met there ever since.

Virginia has a divided government where neither party holds a trifecta. The Republican Party controls the office of governor, while the Democratic Party controls both chambers of the state legislature.

See also: Virginia House of Delegates, Virginia State Senate, Virginia Governor

Senate

The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. It is composed of 40 senators and is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virginia. Prior to American independence, the other part of government was represented by the Governor's Council, an upper house made up of executive counselors appointed by the governor as advisers.

As of the 2020 Census, Virginia state senators represented an average of 216,364 residents. After the 2010 Census, each member represented 200,943 residents.

The lieutenant governor, unlike the vice president of the United States in the United States Senate, presides daily over the Virginia Senate. In the lieutenant governor's absence, a president pro tempore presides, usually a powerful member of the majority party. The Senate is coequal with the House of Delegates, the lower chamber of the legislature, except that taxation bills must originate in the House, just like in the U.S. Congress.

Virginia senators are elected every four years on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in November.

Party As of March 2025
     Democratic Party 21
     Republican Party 19
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 40

Click here for a list of members of this chamber.

Democrats won a 21-19 majority in the Virginia State Senate in 2019, gaining control of the chamber for the first time since 2007.

The table below shows the partisan history of the Virginia Senate following every general election from 1991 to 2023. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

Virginia State Senate election results: 1991-2023

Party 91 95[1] 99 03 07 11[2] 15 19 23
Democrats 22 20 19 16 21 20 19 21 21
Republicans 18 20 21 24 19 20 21 19 19

See also

Elections Virginia State Government State Legislatures State Politics
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External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Chamber governed by a power-sharing agreement.
  2. ↑ Control of the Senate varied between the 2011 and 2015 elections. Republicans controlled the chamber from 2012 through 2013, with a Republican lieutenant governor serving as a tie-breaking vote. Democrats won the lieutenant governorship in 2013, giving them control for the first half of 2014. One Democrat resigned in June 2014 and Republicans won the August 2014 special election, giving the party a 21-19 majority.
  3. ↑ Following the election, one Democrat resigned and Republicans won the subsequent special election. The one independent also caucused with Republicans, giving the chamber a 50-50 split, decided through a power-sharing agreement.
  4. ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "Calendars & Schedules," accessed February 6, 2021
  5. ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "Candidacy Requirements for the November 7, 2017 General Election," accessed March 21, 2017
  6. ↑ Virginia State Board of Elections, "2015 November Election Calendar," accessed January 2, 2015
  7. ↑ Virginia State Board of Elections, "2015 November Election Calendar," accessed January 2, 2015
  8. ↑ Virginia Law Library, "Constitution of Virginia," accessed February 16, 2021
  9. ↑ pilotonline.com, "Lawmakers set to return for veto session," accessed February 16, 2021
  10. ↑ David Sherfinski, Washington Times, "Terry McAuliffe’s 2015 Va. agenda includes economics, health care," January 25, 2015
  11. ↑ Daily Press, "Virginia General Assembly opens, lawmakers ease back into action," January 8, 2014
  12. ↑ WRIC, "Virginia General Assembly To Convene For 2013 Session," January 9, 2013
  13. ↑ ncsl.org, "2012 Legislative Session Calendar," accessed February 16, 2021
  14. ↑ The Washington Post, "Virginia General Assembly to convene legislative redistricting session," April 3, 2011
  15. ↑ Post Local, "Va. assembly to vote Friday on Supreme Court, appeals judges," July 29, 2011
  16. ↑ Virginia General Assembly, "2010 Session calendar," accessed February 16, 2021
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 National Association of State Budget Officers, "Budget Processes in the States, Spring 2021," accessed January 24, 2023
  18. ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "Separation of Powers: Executive Veto Powers," accessed January 26, 2024
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Virginia's Legislative Information System, "HJ 615 Constitutional amendment; Virginia Redistricting Commission (first reference)," accessed November 18, 2020
  20. ↑ All About Redistricting, "Virginia," accessed May 8, 2015
  21. ↑ 13News Now, "Virginia has new voting maps after redistricting process finishes," December 30, 2021
  22. ↑ ABC 7, "Virginia bipartisan redistricting panel starts off with partisan maps," September 20, 2021
  23. ↑ El Paso Inc., "First redistricting map drafts leave some lawmakers unhappy," September 2, 2021
  24. ↑ Virginia Mercury, "Virginia’s Redistricting Commission has its first draft maps. They look… normal?" September 2, 2021
  25. ↑ Associated Press, "Proposed congressional maps give Dems an edge in Virginia," December 9, 2021
  26. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, "U.S. Census Bureau Delivers Virginia's 2010 Census Population Totals, Including First Look at Race and Hispanic Origin Data for Legislative Redistricting," February 3, 2011
  27. ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "2024 Legislator Compensation," August 21, 2024
  28. ↑ Virginia Legislative Information System, "Code of Virginia - § 24.2-214. Election and term of Senators." accessed January 6, 2022
  29. ↑ Virginia Legislative Information System, "Code of Virginia - § 24.2-215. Election and term of members of the House of Delegates." accessed January 6, 2022
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