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33-473: VIDC relies on a non-traditional "holistic" approach that also sees attorneys arranging social supports, addiction services and other assistance for those accused of crime, to reduce recidivism rates. In 1972, the Virginia General Assembly piloted two Public Defender offices to determine if they would work better than appointing private attorneys to cases with indigent clients. The Staunton office

66-490: A Confederate monument, alongside state senator Louise Lucas , and three NAACP representatives. Judge Claire G. Cardwell dismissed the charges in November 2020. Cardwell determined that police went around prosecutors to file charges and attempted to prevent Commonwealth's Attorney Stephanie Morales from prosecuting the case by subpoenaing her as a witness. The three public defenders and eight others received settlement checks from

99-411: A commission consisting of eight lawmakers, four from each party, and eight citizens. The amendment passed with all counties and cities supporting the measure except Arlington . The commission failed to reach an agreement on new state and congressional districts by an October 25, 2021, deadline, and relied upon the amendment's provision that lets the state Supreme Court of Virginia draw the districts in

132-632: Is described as "the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World." Its existence dates to its establishment at Jamestown on July 30, 1619, by instructions from the Virginia Company of London to the new Governor Sir George Yeardley . It was initially a unicameral body composed of the Company-appointed Governor and Council of State , plus 22 burgesses elected by the settlements and Jamestown. The Assembly became bicameral in 1642 upon

165-588: Is practicable, representation in proportion to the population of the district." The Redistricting Coalition of Virginia proposes either an independent commission or a bipartisan commission that is not polarized. Member organizations include the League of Women Voters of Virginia, AARP of Virginia, OneVirginia2021 , the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and Virginia Organizing . Governor Bob McDonnell 's Independent Bipartisan Advisory Commission on Redistricting for

198-774: Is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia , the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere , and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World . It was established on July 30, 1619. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house , the Virginia House of Delegates , with 100 members, and an upper house , the Senate of Virginia , with 40 members. Senators serve terms of four years, and delegates serve two-year terms. Combined,

231-746: The 2023 election , when the Democratic Party secured majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. The General Assembly meets in Virginia's capital of Richmond . When sitting in Richmond, the General Assembly holds sessions in the Virginia State Capitol , designed by Thomas Jefferson in 1788 and expanded in 1904. During the American Civil War , the building was used as the capitol of

264-702: The American Bar Association 's "scathing report on the state of indigent defense in Virginia", the VIDC was established by statute in 2004 and replaced the Public Defender Commission. The VIDC replaced court-appointed lawyers in death penalty cases with full-time public defenders. David Johnson was named Executive Director of the agency in 2005. In 2020, several VIDC employees attended a protest in Portsmouth and three were charged with felony vandalism of

297-751: The Confederate States , housing the Confederate Congress . The building was renovated between 2005 and 2006. Senators and delegates have their offices in the General Assembly Building across the street directly north of the Capitol, which have been rebuilt and are expected to open in 2023. The Governor of Virginia lives across the street directly east of the Capitol in the Virginia Executive Mansion . The Virginia General Assembly

330-513: The Constitution of Virginia , senators and delegates must be twenty-one years of age at the time of the election, residents of the district they represent, and qualified to vote for members of the General Assembly. Under the Constitution, "a senator or delegate who moves his residence from the district for which he is elected shall thereby vacate his office." The state constitution specifies that

363-494: The U.S. Senate since 2008 : Out of the 11 seats Virginia is apportioned in the U.S. House of Representatives , six are held by Democrats: In 2019, all three of Virginia's statewide executive office holders, all Democrats, were embroiled in various controversies. Governor Ralph Northam's medical school yearbook page had featured an individual in blackface and an individual in a Ku Klux Klan hood, Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax

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396-628: The secretary of the Senate , the title used by the U.S. Senate ). Following the 2019 election , the Democratic Party held a majority of seats in both the House and the Senate for the first time since 1996. They were sworn into office on January 8, 2020, at the start of the 161st session . In the 2021 election , the Republican Party recaptured a majority in the House of Delegates, then lost it after

429-568: The 1851 Virginia Attorney General election, the first Attorney General election in Virginia in which the Attorney General was elected by direct popular vote, 25 Attorneys General have been Democrats. As of 2023, Democrats hold a 21–19 majority in the Virginia Senate , and a 51–49 majority in the Virginia House of Delegates . At the federal level, Virginia has voted for every Democratic presidential candidate since 2008 . Democrats hold six of

462-812: The Commonwealth of Virginia made its report on April 1, 2011. It made two recommendations for each state legislative house that showed maps of districts more compact and contiguous than those adopted by the General Assembly. However, no action was taken after the report was released. In 2011 the Virginia College and University Redistricting Competition was organized by Professors Michael McDonald of George Mason University and Quentin Kidd of Christopher Newport University . About 150 students on sixteen teams from thirteen schools submitted plans for legislative and U.S. Congressional Districts. They created districts more compact than

495-581: The Commonwealth's 11 U.S. House seats and both of the Commonwealth's U.S. Senate seats. The Steering Committee makes decisions about the Party in-between meetings of the Central Committee, and also has an exclusive role of overseeing staff. The Central Committee has full control over all matters of the Party, including the adoption of an annual budget, the method of nomination for statewide candidates such as Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General;

528-493: The Democratic Party has dominated Virginia politics. Since the 1851 Virginia gubernatorial election , the first gubernatorial election in Virginia in which the governor was elected by direct popular vote, 34 Virginia Governors have been Democrats. Since the 1851 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election, the first lieutenant gubernatorial election in Virginia in which the lieutenant governor was elected by direct popular vote, 29 Virginia Lieutenant Governors have been Democrats. Since

561-424: The General Assembly consists of 140 elected representatives from an equal number of constituent districts across the commonwealth. The House of Delegates is presided over by the speaker of the House , while the Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virginia . The House and Senate each elect a clerk and sergeant-at-arms . The Senate of Virginia's clerk is known as the clerk of the Senate (instead of as

594-683: The General Assembly in 1776 with the ratification of the Virginia Constitution . The government was moved to Richmond in 1780 during the administration of Governor Thomas Jefferson . The annual salary for senators is $ 18,000. The annual salary for delegates is $ 17,640, with the exception that the Speaker's salary is $ 36,321. Members and one staff member also receive a per diem allowance for each day spent attending to official duties such as attending session in Richmond or attending committee meetings. Transportation expenses are reimbursed. Under

627-402: The General Assembly shall meet annually, and its regular session is a maximum of 60 days long in even-numbered years and 30 days long in odd-numbered years, unless extended by a two-thirds vote of both houses. The Governor of Virginia may convene a special session of the General Assembly "when, in his opinion, the interest of the Commonwealth may require" and must convene a special session "upon

660-523: The General Assembly's efforts. The "Division 1" maps conformed with the Governor's executive order , and did not address electoral competition or representational fairness. In addition to the criteria of contiguity, equipopulation, the federal Voting Rights Act and communities of interest in the existing city and county boundaries, "Division 2" maps in the competition did incorporate considerations of electoral competition and representational fairness. Judges for

693-500: The House of Delegates. In 2015, in Vesilind v. Virginia State Board of Elections in a Virginia state court, plaintiffs sought to overturn the General Assembly's redistricting in five House of Delegates and six state Senate districts as violations of both the Virginia and U.S. Constitutions because they failed to represent populations in "continuous and compact territory". In 2020, a constitutional amendment moved redistricting power to

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726-574: The adoption of resolutions and policy statements. In addition, the Central Committee can veto any decision of the Steering Committee. The Central Committee meets at least four times a year, usually in Richmond, although by tradition, the September meeting is in Fredericksburg. Central Committee meetings are accompanied by meetings of the Steering Committee the night before, and Caucus meetings over

759-412: The application of two-thirds of the members elected to each house." Article II, section 6 on apportionment states, "Members of the . . . Senate and of the House of Delegates of the General Assembly shall be elected from electoral districts established by the General Assembly. Every electoral district shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory and shall be so constituted as to give, as nearly as

792-431: The basis of population, in conformance with federal and state laws and court cases, including those addressing racial fairness. The territory is to be contiguous and compact, without oddly shaped boundaries. The commission is prohibited from using political data or election results to favor either political party or incumbent. It passed with a two-thirds majority of 27 to 12 in the Senate, and was then referred to committee in

825-895: The cash award prizes were Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution and Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute . In January 2015 Republican state senator Jill Holtzman Vogel of Winchester and Democratic state senator Louise Lucas of Portsmouth sponsored a Senate Joint Resolution to establish additional criteria for the Virginia Redistricting Commission of four identified members of political parties, and three other independent public officials. The criteria began with respecting existing political boundaries, such as cities and towns, counties and magisterial districts, election districts and voting precincts. Districts are to be established on

858-536: The city for $ 15,000 each. In March 2021, Virginia banned capital punishment and VIDC announced that the capital defense offices located in Vienna , Norfolk , Roanoke , and Richmond would close. In September 2022, Maria Jankowski was promoted from Deputy Executive Director of VIDC to Executive Director after David Johnson retired. Timothy Coyne, the former Chief Public Defender for the Winchester and Front Royal offices,

891-572: The election for Governor. The last reorganization was held in March 2022. In addition, the following people are ex-officio members of the Central Committee and their District Committees: Local Democratic Committees serve to promote the Democratic Party in their specific locality. Some committees may contain several localities. Local committees may endorse candidates for nonpartisan office (such as school board) and assist in campaigning for their candidate. Democrats have controlled both of Virginia's seats in

924-431: The event that the commission could not do so. The Supreme Court did so and approved newly drawn districts on December 28, 2021. While newly drawn districts will currently first be used in 2023, a federal lawsuit is pending that calls for an election to be held using newly drawn districts as immediately as November 2022. If the lawsuit was successful, it would have required all House districts, which just held elections under

957-629: The formation of the House of Burgesses . The Assembly had a judicial function of hearing cases both original and appellate . At various times it may have been referred to as the Grand Assembly of Virginia. The General Assembly met in Jamestown from 1619 until 1699, when it first moved to the College of William & Mary near Williamsburg, Virginia , and from 1705 met in the colonial Capitol building. It became

990-470: The previous districts in 2021, to hold back-to-back elections in 2022 and 2023 under the newly drawn districts. 37°32′20″N 77°26′01″W  /  37.53889°N 77.43361°W  / 37.53889; -77.43361 Democratic Party of Virginia The Democratic Party of Virginia ( DPVA / VA Dems ) is the Virginia affiliate of the Democratic Party based in Richmond, Virginia . Historically,

1023-490: The weekend. The Central Committee is composed of 20 members from each of Virginia's 11 congressional districts. Each district apportions the central committee seats to localities in the district based on population. Additionally, each district committee can elect three more members from local committees and one member of the Virginia General Assembly. The Central Committee is "reorganized" every four years following

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1056-435: Was named to replace Jankowski as Deputy Executive Director of the commission. In 2023 it was revealed that some of the offices were struggling with workload, with 30% fewer lawyers than expected and each one handling up to 200 cases. As of November 2023, VIDC had 28 offices that were staffed to cover approximately 72% of the court-appointed caseload. Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly

1089-521: Was opened first, followed by the Virginia Beach office a few months later. The first chief public defender of the Staunton office, Coy M. Kiser, Jr. started the office with one investigator, a secretary, and two part-time assistant public defenders. Kiser was appointed to a judgeship two years later and was replaced by William E. Bobbitt, who served in the Staunton office for over thirty years. Following

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