2021 Virginia Attorney General election

The 2021 Virginia attorney general election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the next attorney general of Virginia. Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring attempted to win a third term. Herring initially planned to run for governor, but decided to run for re-election. Herring faced Republican nominee Jason Miyares in the general election. Herring conceded defeat at 5:02 PM EST the following day, November 3.^[1] Miyares became the first Cuban-American and Hispanic to be elected to statewide office in Virginia. Miyares was later sworn in on January 15, 2022.

2021 Virginia attorney general election

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Nominee Jason Miyares Mark Herring Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,647,100 1,620,564 Percentage 50.36% 49.55%

County and independent city results Congressional district results Precinct results Miyares:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Herring:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Tie:      40–50%      50%      No data

Attorney General before election Mark Herring Democratic Elected Attorney General Jason Miyares Republican

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Mark Herring, incumbent attorney general^[2]

Eliminated in primary

• Jay Jones, state delegate for Virginia's 89th House of Delegates district^[3]

Declined

• Shannon Taylor, Henrico County commonwealth's attorney^[4]

Endorsements

Mark Herring

Federal officials

• Don Beyer, U.S. Representative (VA-08) and former Lieutenant Governor of Virginia^[5]
• Gerry Connolly, U.S. Representative (VA-11)^[6]

State senators

• Jennifer Boysko, state senator (D-33)^[5]
• Ghazala Hashmi, state senator (D-10)^[5]
• L. Louise Lucas, President pro tempore (D-18)^[5]

State delegates

• Eileen Filler-Corn, Speaker of the House of Delegates^[7]
• Charniele Herring, House Majority Leader^[7]
• Dawn Adams, state delegate (D-68)^[8]
• David Bulova, state delegate (D-37)^[8]
• Betsy Carr, state delegate (D-69)^[8]
• Karrie Delaney, state delegate (D-67)^[8]
• Wendy Gooditis, state delegate (D-10)^[8]
• Alfonso H. Lopez, state delegate (D-49)^[8]
• Delores McQuinn, state delegate (D-70)^[8]
• Ken Plum, state delegate (D-36)^[8]
• Rip Sullivan, state delegate (D-48)^[8]
• Mark Sickles, state delegate (D-43)^[8]
• Vivian Watts, state delegate (D-39)^[8]
• Rodney Willett, state delegate (D-73)^[8]

Local officials

• Phyllis Randall, Chair, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors^[9]
• Shannon Taylor, Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney^[10][11]

Organizations

• Moms Demand Action (co-endorsed with Jones)^[12]

Unions

• Virginia Professional Fire Fighters^[13]

Jay Jones

Federal officials

• Cory Booker, U.S. Senator (D-NJ)^[3]
• Elaine Luria, U.S. Representative (VA-02)^[3]
• Bobby Scott, U.S. Representative (VA-03)^[14]

Governors

• Ralph Northam, Governor of Virginia^[15]

State senators

• John Bell, state senator (D-13)^[3]
• Lynwood Lewis, state senator (D-6)^[3]
• Mamie Locke, state senator (D-2)^[3]
• Monty Mason, state senator (D-1)^[3]
• Joe Morrissey, state senator (D-16)^[3]
• Lionell Spruill, state senator (D-5)^[3]

State delegates

• Lashrecse Aird, state delegate (D-63)^[3]
• Alex Askew, state delegate (D-85)^[3]
• Lamont Bagby, state delegate (D-74)^[3]
• Jeff Bourne, state delegate (D-71)^[3]
• Joshua G. Cole, state delegate (D-28)^[3]
• Kelly Fowler, state delegate (D-21)^[3]
• Wendy Gooditis, state delegate (D-10)^[3]
• Nancy Guy, state delegate (D-83)^[3]
• Cliff Hayes, state delegate (D-77)^[3]
• Steve Heretick, state delegate (D-79)^[3]
• Patrick Hope, state delegate (D-47)^[3]
• Chris Hurst, state delegate (D-12)^[3]
• Clint Jenkins, state delegate (D-76)^[3]
• Mark Keam, state delegate (D-35)^[3]
• Kaye Kory, state delegate (D-38)^[3]
• Paul Krizek, state delegate (D-44)^[3]
• Martha Mugler, state delegate (D-91)^[3]
• Michael P. Mullin, state delegate (D-93)^[3]
• Kathleen Murphy, state delegate (D-34)^[3]
• Marcia Price, state delegate (D-95)^[3]
• David A. Reid, state delegate (D-32)^[3]
• Ibraheem Samirah, state delegate (D-86)^[3]
• Don Scott, state delegate (D-80)^[3]
• Marcus Simon, state delegate (D-53)^[3]
• Shelly Simonds, state delegate (D-94)^[3]
• Luke Torian, state delegate (D-52)^[3]
• Roslyn Tyler, state delegate (D-75)^[3]
• Schuyler VanValkenburg, state delegate (D-72)^[3]

Former delegates

• Ward Armstrong, Former House Democratic Minority Leader (Martinsville)^[3]
• Dick Cranwell, Former House Democratic Majority and Minority Leader (Vinton)^[3]
• Albert C. Pollard (Irvington)^[3]
• Debra Rodman (Henrico)^[3]
• David Toscano, Former House Democratic Minority Leader (Charlottesville)^[3]

Local officials

• Levar Stoney, Richmond mayor and former Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia^[3]

Individuals

• Mary Sue Terry, former Attorney General of Virginia^[16]

Organizations

• Democracy for America^[17]
• Moms Demand Action (co-endorsed with Herring)^[12]
• Our Black Party^[18]

Debates

Mark Herring and Jay Jones agreed to one debate. 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 from Governor at the time, Ralph Northam, 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.

2021 Virginia Democratic Primary for Attorney General

No.	Date	Host	Link	Participants
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Non-invitee   W  Withdrawn
				Jay Jones	Mark Herring*
1	May 15, 2021	WTVR CBS 6	[19]	P	P

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Mark Herring	Jay Jones	Other	Undecided
Roanoke College[20]	May 24 – June 1, 2021	637 (LV)	± 3.9%	49%	20%	–	31%
Christopher Newport University[21]	April 11–20, 2021	806 (LV)	± 3.9%	42%	18%	1%	39%

Results

Results by county and independent city:

  Herring

•   80–90%
•   70–80%
•   60–70%
•   50–60%

  Jones

•   50–60%
•   60–70%

Democratic primary results^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mark Herring (incumbent)	274,736	56.63
	Democratic	Jay Jones	210,365	43.37
Total votes			485,101	100.00

Republican convention

Candidates

Nominated at convention

• Jason Miyares, state delegate for Virginia's 82nd House of Delegates district^[23]

Defeated at convention

• Leslie Haley, Chesterfield County supervisor^[24]
• Chuck Smith, attorney, nominee for Virginia's 3rd congressional district in 2010, and candidate for Attorney General in 2017^[25]
• Jack L. White, conservative attorney, former Supreme Court law clerk for Justice Alito, West Point graduate, Army veteran, and ordained minister^[26]

Declined

• Bill Stanley, state senator for Virginia's 20th Senate district^[27]

Results

The round-by-round results of the ranked-choice voting election

Virginia GOP Convention, Attorney General Nominee [28]
Candidate	Round 1		Round 2		Round 3
	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
Jason Miyares	4,590	36.6%	5,297	42.2%	6,490	51.7%
Chuck Smith	4,324	34.4%	4,975	39.6%	6,064	48.3%
Jack White	1,872	14.9%	2,282	18.2%	Eliminated
Leslie Haley	1,768	14.1%	Eliminated

General election

Endorsements

Mark Herring (D)

Federal officials

• Joe Biden, 46th President of the United States (2021-2025)^[29]
• Kamala Harris, 49th Vice President of the United States (2021-2025)^[30]
• Barack Obama, former President of the United States (2009-2017)^[31]
• Don Beyer, U.S. Representative (VA-08) and former Lieutenant Governor of Virginia^[5]
• Gerry Connolly, U.S. Representative (VA-11)^[6]

State senators

• Jennifer Boysko, state senator (D-33)^[5]
• Ghazala Hashmi, state senator (D-10)^[5]
• L. Louise Lucas, President pro tempore (D-18)^[5]

State delegates

• Eileen Filler-Corn, Speaker of the House of Delegates^[7]
• Charniele Herring, House Majority Leader^[7]
• Dawn Adams, state delegate (D-68)^[8]
• David Bulova, state delegate (D-37)^[8]
• Betsy Carr, state delegate (D-69)^[8]
• Karrie Delaney, state delegate (D-67)^[8]
• Wendy Gooditis, state delegate (D-10)^[8]
• Alfonso H. Lopez, state delegate (D-49)^[8]
• Delores McQuinn, state delegate (D-70)^[8]
• Ken Plum, state delegate (D-36)^[8]
• Rip Sullivan, state delegate (D-48)^[8]
• Mark Sickles, state delegate (D-43)^[8]
• Vivian Watts, state delegate (D-39)^[8]
• Rodney Willett, state delegate (D-73)^[8]

Local officials

• Phyllis Randall, Chair, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors^[9]
• Shannon Taylor, Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney^[10][11]

Organizations

• Human Rights Campaign^[32]
• Moms Demand Action^[12]

Unions

• Virginia Professional Fire Fighters^[33]

Jason Miyares (R)

Governors

• George Allen, former U.S. Senator from Virginia (2001–2007), former Governor of Virginia (1994–1998)^[34]

Federal officials

• Ben Cline, U.S. Representative for Virginia's 6th congressional district and former member of the Virginia House of Delegates^[35]
• Ken Cuccinelli, Principal Deputy Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (2019–2021), Attorney General of Virginia (2010–2014), nominee for Governor of Virginia in 2013^[36]
• Marco Rubio, U.S. Senator from Florida (2011–2025)^[37]

State senators

• John Cosgrove (R-14)^[38]
• Bill DeSteph (R-8)^[38]

State delegates

• Rob Bell (R-58)^[38]
• Terry Kilgore (R-1)^[38]
• Matt Fariss (R-59)^[38]
• Margaret Ransone (R-99)^[38]
• Mark Cole (R-88)^[38]

Organizations

• NRA Political Victory Fund^[39][40][41]

General election Debates

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

2021 Virginia Attorney General

No.	Date	Host	Link	Participants
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Non-invitee   W  Withdrawn
				Jason Miyares	Mark Herring*
1	October 13, 2021	Loudoun Chamber	[42]	P	P

Polling

Graphical summary

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Mark Herring (D)	Jason Miyares (R)	Other	Undecided
The Trafalgar Group (R)[43]	October 29–31, 2021	1,081 (LV)	± 3.0%	47%	50%	1%	2%
Echelon Insights (R)[44]	October 27–29, 2021	611 (LV)	± 4.0%	47%	48%	–	5%
Roanoke College[45]	October 14–28, 2021	571 (LV)	± 4.7%	46%	45%	0%	9%
The Washington Post/Schar School[46]	October 20–26, 2021	1,107 (RV)	± 3.5%	48%	43%	3%[b]	6%
		918 (LV)	± 4.0%	50%	44%	1%[c]	4%
Christopher Newport University[47]	October 17–25, 2021	944 (LV)	± 3.5%	48%	47%	–	5%
Suffolk University[48]	October 21–24, 2021	500 (LV)	± 4.4%	48%	45%	–	7%
Emerson College[49]	October 22–23, 2021	875 (LV)	± 3.2%	47%	44%	1%	7%
co/efficient (R)[50][A]	October 20–21, 2021	785 (LV)	± 3.5%	45%	46%	–	8%
Cygnal (R)[51]	October 19–21, 2021	816 (LV)	± 3.4%	48%	47%	–	6%
Virginia Commonwealth University[52]	October 9–21, 2021	722 (LV)	± 6.4%	39%	35%	14%	12%
Christopher Newport University[53]	September 27 – October 6, 2021	802 (LV)	± 4.2%	49%	43%	–	7%
Emerson College[54]	October 1–3, 2021	620 (LV)	± 3.9%	46%	44%	1%	10%
Roanoke College[55]	September 12–26, 2021	603 (LV)	± 4.6%	47%	37%	0%	16%
KAConsulting LLC (R)[56][B]	September 17–19, 2021	700 (LV)	± 3.7%	43%	27%	1%	30%
Virginia Commonwealth University[57]	September 7–15, 2021	731 (LV)	± 6.9%	39%	33%	14%	14%
Emerson College[58]	September 13–14, 2021	778 (LV)	± 3.4%	47%	41%	2%	11%
University of Mary Washington[59]	September 7–13, 2021	1,000 (A)	± 3.1%	40%	37%	6%[d]	17%
		528 (LV)	± 4.1%	42%	46%	2%[e]	10%
The Trafalgar Group (R)[60]	August 26–29, 2021	1,068 (LV)	± 3.0%	43%	45%	–	13%
Monmouth University[61]	August 24–29, 2021	802 (RV)	± 3.5%	45%	43%	1%	11%
Christopher Newport University[62]	August 15–23, 2021	800 (LV)	± 3.6%	53%	41%	0%	6%
Roanoke College[63]	August 3–17, 2021	558 (LV)	± 4.2%	45%	37%	1%	17%
Virginia Commonwealth University[64]	August 4–15, 2021	770 (RV)	± 5.4%	40%	30%	20%	10%
		~747 (LV)	± 5.5%	41%	30%	19%	10%
JMC Analytics and Polling (R)[65]	June 9–12, 2021	550 (LV)	± 4.2%	45%	38%	–	17%

Results

Virginia Attorney General election, 2021^[66]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Jason Miyares	1,647,100	50.36%	+3.80%
	Democratic	Mark Herring (incumbent)	1,620,564	49.55%	−3.79%
	Write-in		2,995	0.09%	-0.01%
Total votes			3,270,659	100.00%	N/A
	Republican gain from Democratic

By congressional district

Miyares won six of 11 congressional districts, including two that were represented by Democrats.^[67]

District	Herring	Miyares	Representative
1st	41%	59%	Rob Wittman
2nd	46%	54%	Elaine Luria
3rd	63%	37%	Bobby Scott
4th	57%	43%	Donald McEachin
5th	41%	59%	Bob Good
6th	34%	65%	Ben Cline
7th	45%	55%	Abigail Spanberger
8th	73%	27%	Don Beyer
9th	26%	74%	Morgan Griffith
10th	53%	47%	Jennifer Wexton
11th	68%	32%	Gerry Connolly

See also

• Politics portal
• Virginia portal

• 2021 Virginia elections
• 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election
• 2021 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election
• 2021 Virginia House of Delegates election

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
2. Neither with 2%, Would not vote with 1%, Other with 0%
3. Neither with 1%, Other and Would not vote with 0%
4. None/Would not vote with 4%, other candidate with 2%
5. Other candidate with 2%, None/Would not vote with 0%

Partisan clients

1. This poll was sponsored by Winsome Sears's campaign for Lieutenant Governor
2. This poll was sponsored by the Presidential Coalition