37°32′19″N77°26′00″W / 37.53865°N 77.43331°W /37.53865; -77.43331
Virginia House of Delegates | |
|---|---|
| 163rd Virginia General Assembly | |
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
Term limits | None |
| History | |
| Established | 1776 |
| Preceded by | House of Burgesses |
New session started | January 10, 2024 |
| Leadership | |
Majority Leader | Charniele Herring (D) since January 10, 2024 |
Minority Leader | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 100 |
 | |
Political groups | Majority
|
Political groups | Minority
|
Length of term | 2 years |
| Authority | Article IV,Virginia Constitution |
| Salary | $17,640/year + per diem |
| Elections | |
Last election | November 7, 2023 |
Next election | November 4, 2025 |
| Redistricting | By 16-member bipartisan commission, approved by General Assembly |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| House of Delegates Chamber Virginia State Capitol Richmond, Virginia | |
| Website | |
| Virginia General Assembly | |
TheVirginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of theVirginia General Assembly, the other being theSenate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbered years. The House is presided over by theSpeaker of the House, who is elected from among the House members by the Delegates. The Speaker is usually a member of the majority party and, as Speaker, becomes the most powerful member of the House. The House shares legislative power with the Senate, theupper house of the General Assembly. The House of Delegates is the modern-day successor to the colonialHouse of Burgesses, which first met atJamestown in 1619. It is the first and oldest continuous English-Speaking representative legislative assembly in the Western Hemisphere.[1] The House is divided intoDemocratic andRepublicancaucuses. In addition to the Speaker, there is amajority leader, a majority whip, a majority caucus chair, aminority leader, a minority whip, a minority caucus chair, and the chairs of the several committees of the House.
OnlyMaryland,Virginia andWest Virginia refer to theirlower house as the House of Delegates.
TheHouse of Burgesses was the first elected legislative body in theNew World.[2] Originally having 22 members, the House of Burgesses met from 1619 through 1632 in the choir of the church at Jamestown.[3] From 1632 to 1699 the legislative body met at four different state houses in Jamestown. The first state house convened at the home of Colonial Governor Sir John Harvey from 1632 to 1656. The burgesses convened at the second state house from 1656 until it was destroyed in1660. Historians have yet to precisely identify its location.[4]
The House of Burgesses had its final meeting in May 1776, and the House of Delegates took its place in October of that year.
The House has met in theVirginia State Capitol, designed byThomas Jefferson, since 1788. The legislative body met from 1788 to 1904 in what is known as today the Old Hall of the House of Delegates or commonly referred to as the Old House Chamber. The Old House Chamber is part of the original Capitol building structure. It measures 76 feet in width and is filled today with furnishings that resemble what the room would have looked like during its time of use. There are many bronze and marble busts of historic Virginians on display in the Old House Chamber, including:George Mason,George Wythe,Patrick Henry,Richard Henry Lee, andMeriwether Lewis. From 1904 to 1906, University of Virginia graduate and architect John K. Peeples designed and built compatible classical wings to the west and east side of the Capitol building. The new wings added to provide more space and serve as the legislative chambers in the Virginia General Assembly, the Senate of Virginia resides in the west chamber and the House of Delegates resides in the east chamber. The General Assembly members and staff operate from offices in the General Assembly Building, located in Capitol Square. Prior to 1788 the House of Delegates met in the Colonial Capital of Williamsburg.
In 1999, Republicans took control of the House of Delegates for the first time sinceReconstruction (with the exception of a brief 2-year period in which theReadjuster Party was in the majority in the 1880s). The Republican Party held the majority until 2019, when the Democratic Party won a majority of the seats, thus regaining control of the House of Delegates. The majority was sworn in on January 8, 2020, after whichEileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax) was elected as the first female andJewish Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates.[5]
On November 4, 2020, Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment that removed the authority to redistrict congressional and state legislative districts from the General Assembly, and gave that power to a newly-established 16-member panel composed of eight lawmakers and eight non-lawmaker citizens. The maps created by this commission are subject to the approval of the General Assembly, but lawmakers cannot change the commission's lines.[6]
On November 7, 2023, the Democrats regained control of the House of Delegates after securing a 51-seat majority.[7]
The annualsalary for delegates is $17,640.[8] Each delegate represents roughly 84,702 people.[8] Candidates for office must be at least 21 years of age at the time of the election, residents of the districts they seek to represent, and qualified to vote for General Assembly legislators.[9][10] The regular session of the General Assembly is 60 days long during even numbered years and 30 days long during odd numbered years, unless extended by a two-thirds vote of both houses.[9][11]
Article IV, Section 3 of theConstitution of Virginia stipulates that the House of Delegates shall consist of between 90 and 100 members. It does not put any condition on the number of districts and only speaks of "several house districts". While there used to be multi-member districts, since 1982, there have been 100 districts electing one member each.
| ↓ | ||
| 51 | 49 | |
| Democratic | Republican | |
| Affiliation | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Republican | Vacant | ||
| Previous legislature (2016–2018) | 34 | 66 | 100 | 0 |
| Previous legislature (2018-2020) | 49 | 51 | 100 | 0 |
| Previous legislature (2020-2022) | 55 | 45 | 100 | 0 |
| Previous legislature (2022-2024) | 48 | 52 | 100 | 0 |
| Begin 2024 | 51 | 49 | 100 | 0 |
| Latest voting share | 49.5% | 47.7% | ||
(The party control table shows the balance of power after each recent general election. The preceding Makeup table includes results ofspecial elections since the last general election.)
| Years | Democrats | Republicans | Independents |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1900–1904 | 93 | 7 | 0 |
| 1904–1912 | 86 | 14 | 0 |
| 1912–1914 | 90 | 10 | 0 |
| 1914–1916 | 92 | 8 | 0 |
| 1916–1922 | 88 | 12 | 0 |
| 1922–1924 | 95 | 5 | 0 |
| 1924–1926 | 97 | 3 | 0 |
| 1926–1928 | 95 | 5 | 0 |
| 1928–1930 | 93 | 7 | 0 |
| 1930–1934 | 95 | 5 | 0 |
| 1934–1940 | 93 | 7 | 0 |
| 1940–1944 | 97 | 3 | 0 |
| 1944–1946 | 94 | 6 | 0 |
| 1946–1950 | 93 | 7 | 0 |
| 1950–1960 | 94 | 6 | 0 |
| 1960–1962 | 96 | 4 | 0 |
| 1962–1964 | 94 | 5 | 1 |
| 1964–1966 | 89 | 11 | 0 |
| 1966–1968 | 87 | 12 | 1 |
| 1968–1970 | 86 | 14 | 0 |
| 1970–1972 | 75 | 24 | 1 |
| 1972–1974 | 73 | 24 | 3 |
| 1974–1976 | 65 | 20 | 15 |
| 1976–1978 | 78 | 17 | 5 |
| 1978–1980 | 76 | 21 | 3 |
| 1980–1982 | 74 | 25 | 1 |
| 1982–1984 | 66 | 32 | 2 |
| 1984–1986 | 65 | 34 | 1 |
| 1986–1988 | 65 | 33 | 2 |
| 1988–1990 | 64 | 35 | 1 |
| 1990–1992 | 59 | 40 | 1 |
| 1992–1994 | 58 | 41 | 1 |
| 1994–1996 | 52 | 47 | 1 |
| 1996–1998 | 52 | 47 | 1 |
| 1998–2000 | 50[12] | 49 | 1 |
| 2000–2002 | 47 | 52 | 1 |
| 2002–2004 | 34 | 64 | 2 |
| 2004–2006 | 37 | 61 | 2 |
| 2006–2008 | 40 | 57 | 3 |
| 2008–2010 | 44 | 54 | 2 |
| 2010–2012 | 39 | 59 | 2 |
| 2012–2014 | 32 | 66 | 2 |
| 2014–2016 | 32 | 67 | 1 |
| 2016–2018 | 34 | 66 | 0 |
| 2018–2020 | 49 | 51 | 0 |
| 2020–2022 | 55 | 45 | 0 |
| 2022–2024 | 48 | 52 | 0 |
| 2024–2026 | 51 | 49 | 0 |
| Speaker | Don Scott |
| Majority Leader | Charniele Herring |
| Majority Caucus Chair | Kathy Tran |
| Minority Leader | Todd Gilbert |
| Minority Caucus Chair | Amanda Batten |
| Minority Whip | Michael Webert |
The House has 14 standing committees.[13]
| Committee | Chair | Vice Chair | Senior Minority Member |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources | Alfonso Lopez | Nadarius Clark | |
| Appropriations | Luke Torian | Mark Sickles | |
| Communications, Technology and Innovation | Cliff Hayes | Irene Shin | |
| Counties, Cities and Towns | Candi King | Elizabeth Bennett-Parker | |
| Courts of Justice | Patrick Hope | Marcus Simon | |
| Education | Sam Rasoul | Shelly Simonds | |
| Finance | Vivian Watts | Rip Sullivan | |
| General Laws | David Bulova | Betsy Carr | |
| Health and Human Services | Mark Sickles | Kathy Tran | |
| Labor and Commerce | Jeion Ward | Charniele Herring | |
| Privileges and Elections | Cia Price | Kelly Convirs-Fowler | |
| Public Safety | Marcus Simon | Candi King | |
| Rules | Don Scott | Dan Helmer | |
| Transportation | Karrie Delaney | David Reid |
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The Virginia House of Delegates is reelected every two years, with intervening vacancies filled byspecial election. The list below contains the House delegates that are currently serving in the163rd Virginia General Assembly, which convened on January 10, 2024.
Marking the 400th anniversary of the House of Burgesses, the House Clerk's Office announced a newDatabase of House Members called "DOME" that chronicles the "9,700-plus men and women who served as burgesses or delegates in the Virginia General Assembly over the past four centuries."[14][15][16]
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