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Seeking a third term as Virginia’s attorney general, incumbent Mark Herring faces a challenger in the June Democratic primary: Norfolk Del. Jay Jones, a 32-year-old lawyer who says he’d bring fresh perspective to the office.
Herring, 59, has been in the post since 2014. Jones, who has represented the 89th House District in Norfolk since 2018, would be the state’s first Black attorney general if elected.
The primary will be held June 8, although early voting begins Friday. The state’s Republican Party will select its candidate for the job of Virginia’s top lawyer in a convention May 8.
The attorney general’s main duties include giving legal advice to state agencies, issuing opinions that interpret state law and defending criminal convictions on appeal. The office also prosecutes some crimes itself.
In interviews last week, both Democratic candidates named similar priorities if elected, including criminal justice reform and workers’ rights and protections. Herring said health and well-being — including defending gun safety laws — was another area of focus, while Jones highlighted energy regulation and the environment.
Herring said he has a proven track record of getting things done. He views the attorney general as the “people’s lawyer,” he said, and he believes the powers of the office should be used to help the state’s 8.5 million residents.
“I’ve proven that I’ve got the know-how and experience to take on big fights and win,” Herring said.
Herring was a lawyer and elected county supervisor in Loudoun County before serving as a state senator. When elected as attorney general, Herring was the first Democrat to hold the job in 20 years.
Over the past four years, Herring pushed back against the Trump administration, including on its push to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He has advocated for “DREAMers” — people brought to the country illegally as children who’ve been granted temporary protection from deportation — and worked to clear a backlog of untested rape kits in the state. When he took office as attorney general, Herring declared the state’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, and a federal court ultimately agreed.
Herring said there’s more to be done with criminal justice and policing reform, including investigating patterns of misconduct within police departments. During a special legislative session last year, state lawmakers passed a law that, as of March, gives the attorney general authority to conduct “pattern and practice” investigations of law enforcement agencies.
Herring is looking into the Windsor Police Department following the December traffic stop of U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario, which has garnered national attention. During the incident, police officers pepper sprayed Nazario and pointed guns at him.
Jones has been critical of Herring, saying he’s been slow to respond on justice reform measures and that the state needs an attorney general who is proactive, not reactive.
Herring pushed back, saying he’d led the way on many issues and has “broken barrier after barrier.” He pointed to marijuana legalization, saying he identified it as a priority before others were talking about it. Herring said he saw how marijuana charges limited the opportunities of many and disproportionately impacted communities of color.
Jones said Virginia is at a “turning point,” and he’d bring a new voice to the job. Traces of Jim Crow remain in Virginia, he said, and the attorney general should work to undo that and make the state more equitable for everyone.
“People who have been left out and left behind need someone who can work for them,” Jones said.
Jones said criminal justice reform is “deeply personal” for him and at the top of his agenda, including juvenile justice reform and ending cash bail, solitary confinement and “qualified immunity,” a set of legal precedents that make it harder to sue police officers for wrongdoing.
Jones, a partner at law firm Bischoff Martingayle and one of the youngest state lawmakers, comes from a family of civil rights leaders. His grandfather, Hilary H. Jones Sr., was the first Black member of the Norfolk School Board and state Board of Education. His father, Jerrauld Corey Jones, represented the 89th District as state delegate for 12 years and is now a Norfolk Circuit Court judge. His mother, Lyn Simmons, is a Norfolk Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court judge.
When he was a freshman delegate, Jones pushed for the “Ashanti Alert,” which created an alert for missing and endangered adults. Named for Ashanti Billie, a 19-year-old who disappeared in 2017 from a Navy base in Virginia Beach, a version of Virginia’s law has since been adopted nationally.
This year, he was one of the chief co-patrons on legislation that ended the death penalty in Virginia.
Jones said he wants to open field offices across the state, including in underserved rural areas, if elected. He also has proposed a Voter Protection and Election Integrity Unit, which would investigate complaints of voter harassment and voter registration denials, among other things.
Three years ago, Herring announced he’d be running for governor in 2021, but in September he said he’d seek a third term as attorney general instead.
Herring was one of many who called for Gov. Ralph Northam, a fellow Democrat, to step down in 2019 when a photo from Northam’s medical school yearbook page surfaced showing a man in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan robe. Herring later issued a statement admitting he also had worn blackface at a college party in the 1980s.
Now, Northam has endorsed Jones for attorney general. So have U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria and more than 30 state senators and delegates, including many members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus and most of the Democratic state legislators from Hampton Roads.
Among those endorsing Herring: Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn; House Majority Leader Charniele Herring; Sen. Louise Lucas of Portsmouth, president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate; and U.S. Reps. Gerry Connolly and Don Beyer, former Virginia lieutenant governor.
As of March 31, Jones had raised about $1.3 million to Herring’s $1.8 million, according to figures from the Virginia Public Access Project.
The winner of the June Democratic primary will face the Republican candidate in the November election. Those seeking that party’s nomination in May’s convention: Virginia Beach state Del. Jason Miyares; Virginia Beach attorney Chuck Smith; Northern Virginia lawyer Jack White; and Leslie Haley, an elected county supervisor in Chesterfield County.
Margaret Matray, 757-222-5216, margaret.matray@pilotonline.com
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Mark R. Herring
Age: 59
Occupation: Virginia attorney general, 2014-present
Previous office held, if any: Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, 2000-2003; Virginia State Senate 33rd District, 2006-2014
Education: University of Virginia, B.A. Economics; University of Virginia, M.A. Foreign Affairs; University of Richmond, J.D.
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Website: herringforag.com
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Jay Jones
Age: 32
Occupation: Virginia delegate; lawyer
Previous office held, if any: Elected in 2017 as state delegate representing the 89th House District in Norfolk
Education: Undergraduate degree from William & Mary; law degree from University of Virginia
Website: jayjones.com
Correction, April 23, 2021: A previous version of this story gave the incorrect date for the start of early voting. Early voting began Friday, April 23. The story has been updated.