The 160th Virginia General Assembly, consisting of members who were elected in both the 2017 House election and 2015 Senate election, convened on January 9, 2018. Republicans held one-seat majorities in both chambers, losing 17 seats in the House.

Membership

In the 2017 election, 25 women were elected to the House of Delegates, breaking the previous record of 19 that was set in 2013. On January 1, 2019, Eileen Filler-Corn became Leader of the House Democratic Caucus, succeeding

David Toscano David Joseph Toscano (born June 28, 1950) is an American politician and lawyer. Career A Democrat, he served on the Charlottesville, Virginia city council from 1990 to 2002 and was mayor from 1994 to 1996. In November 2005 he was elected to t ...

. She is the first woman to lead a caucus in the 400-year history of the Virginia House of Delegates. In addition, in the 13th district, Democratic candidate Danica Roem became the first openly transgender candidate to be elected and serve in a state legislative body in the United States. In the

21st 21 (twenty-one) is the natural number following 20 and preceding 22. The current century is the 21st century AD, under the Gregorian calendar. In mathematics 21 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being 1, 3 and 7, and a defici ...

and 42nd districts, respectively, Democratic candidates Kelly Fowler and Kathy Tran became the first Asian American women elected to the House of Delegates. Democratic candidates

Elizabeth Guzmán Elizabeth Rosalina Guzmán is a Peruvian-American politician and social worker elected to represent Virginia's 31st House of Delegates district in Virginia's House of Delegates. She serves on the House committees on Privileges and Elections a ...

and Hala Ayala were elected to 31st and 51st districts, respectively, to also become the first two Hispanic women elected to the House of Delegates. In the 68th district, Democratic candidate

Dawn M. Adams Dawn Marie Adams (born November 6, 1964) is an American politician serving as the Delegate from the 68th District of the Virginia House of Delegates since 2018. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Adams is a nurse practitioner and small ...

became the first openly lesbian candidate to be elected to the House of Delegates.

Legislation

In the aftermath of the 2019 Virginia Beach shooting, Governor Ralph Northam called for a special session of the Virginia Legislature in order for it to consider different gun-control bills. The House of Delegates reconvened on July 9, 2019 only for it to adjourn again after 90 minutes of session. This decision was made on a party-line vote. Northam expressed his disappointment that no gun-control measures were considered. Speaker of the House of Kirk Cox called the special session "just an election year stunt". He criticized the Democrats' focus on gun-control bills without considering mental health and penalization of crimes.

References

{{Virginia General Assemblies Government of Virginia Virginia legislative sessions 2018 in Virginia 2018 U.S. legislative sessions 2019 in Virginia 2019 U.S. legislative sessions

Membership

Legislation

See also

References