The 2021 Virginia attorney general election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the next

attorney general of Virginia The attorney general of Virginia is an elected constitutional position that holds an Executive (government), executive office in the government of Virginia. Attorneys general are elected for a four-year term in the year following a United State ...

. Democratic Attorney General

Mark Herring Mark Rankin Herring (born September 25, 1961) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th Attorney General of Virginia from 2014 to 2022. A Democrat, he previously served in the Senate of Virginia since a 2006 special election, ...

attempted to win a third term. Herring initially planned to run for

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

, but decided to run for re-election. Herring faced Republican nominee

Jason Miyares Jason Stuart Miyares (born February 11, 1976) is an American attorney and politician serving as the 48th Attorney General of Virginia since 2022. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in ...

in the general election. Herring conceded defeat at 5:02 PM EST the following day, November 3. Miyares became the first

Cuban-American Cuban Americans ( or ) are Americans who immigrated from or are descended from immigrants from Cuba. As of 2023, Cuban Americans were the fourth largest Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hispanic and Latino American group in the United States aft ...

and

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

to be elected to statewide office in Virginia. Miyares was later sworn in on January 15, 2022.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

, incumbent attorney general

Eliminated in primary

* Jay Jones, state delegate for Virginia's 89th House of Delegates district

Declined

* Shannon Taylor,

Henrico County Henrico County , officially the County of Henrico, is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 334,389 making it the fifth-most populous county in Virginia. Henrico Coun ...

commonwealth's attorney

Endorsements

Debates

Mark Herring and Jay Jones agreed to one

debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for opposing viewpoints. Historica ...

. The debate started off with Mark Herring started off talking about his record and saying what he has done about certain cases vs what Jones was doing at the time. Jay Jones started off talking about his

endorsement Endorsement (alternatively spelled "indorsement") may refer to a: * testimonial, a written or spoken statement promoting or advertising a product * political endorsement, publicly declaring support for a candidate * form added to an insurance poli ...

from

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

at the time,

Ralph Northam Ralph Shearer Northam (born September 13, 1959) is an American physician and former politician who served as the 73rd governor of Virginia from 2018 to 2022. A pediatric Neurology, neurologist by occupation, he was an officer in the Medical Co ...

, and claiming Herring's past didn't matter for what was happening in the present. Herring and Jones agreed on almost every issue asked to them. When the rebuttals came though, Herring would often claim that Jones didn't support something when he was on the legislature and Jones would point to an example where they agreed on it in the past. When Jones rebutted Herring, Jones claimed that Herring didn't begin on the issue until it was in the political atmosphere.

Polling

Results

Republican convention

Candidates

Nominated at convention

, state delegate for Virginia's 82nd House of Delegates district

Defeated at convention

*Leslie Haley, Chesterfield County supervisor * Chuck Smith, attorney, nominee for Virginia's 3rd congressional district in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, and candidate for Attorney General in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

* Jack L. White, conservative attorney, former

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

law clerk A law clerk, judicial clerk, or judicial assistant is a person, often a lawyer, who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by Legal research, researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial ...

for Justice Alito,

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

graduate,

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

veteran, and ordained minister

Declined

* Bill Stanley, state senator for Virginia's 20th Senate district

Results

General election

Endorsements

General election Debates

Mark Herring and Jason Miyares agreed to one town hall-style debate.

Polling

Graphical summary

Results

By congressional district

Miyares won six of 11 congressional districts, including two that were represented by Democrats.

Notes

Partisan clients

References

External links

Official campaign websites
Mark Herring (D) for Attorney General

Jason Miyares (R) for Attorney General
{{2021 United States elections 2021 Virginia elections

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Declined

Endorsements

Debates

Polling

Results

Republican convention

Candidates

Nominated at convention

Defeated at convention

Declined

Results

General election

Endorsements

General election Debates

Polling

Results

By congressional district

See also

Notes

References

External links