The Oldest Continuous Representative Body in the Western Hemisphere
The Virginia General Assembly (the state legislature) is the oldest continuous representative body in the Western Hemisphere, dating from July 30, 1619. It met at Jamestown until 1699, when it moved to Williamsburg. It met in Williamsburg until 1780, when the Virginia government moved to Richmond to escape the British during the American Revolution.
The General Assembly is a part-time legislature, meeting only 45 days in even-numbered years and 30 days in odd-numbered years. It has become common for the General Assembly to meet in special session, beyond the designated times, to deal with budgetary or emergency issues. The members of the General Assembly hold down full-time jobs in their home communities and travel to Richmond during session as the meeting schedule demands. During the rest of the year, the Senators and Delegates maintain district offices where they meet with constituents and handle legislative issues.
Virginia has been slowly transitioning from being in the “Solid South” –the bastion of support for the Democratic Party during the years of Jim Crow and through the Civil Rights Era in the 1950s and 1960s. Since the advent of Richard Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” in the 1970s, the South has once again become “solid” – but now it’s for the Republican Party.
Driven mostly by the urban population areas of Northern Virginia, Richmond, and Tidewater (Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Hampton, and Newport News), Virginia is now perceived as a “purple state” – neither solidly Democratic nor Republican – and is often viewed as a “toss-up” state in election years. This means every year in Virginia – we elect state officers in odd-numbered years and then join with the rest of the country to elect national officers in even-numbered years.
This has played out within the General Assembly over the past few years.
During the years when statewide elections showed a preference for Democrats (during this time Virginia’s Senators have been Democrats), its district elections have shown Republican control. This is because of partisan gerrymandering.
If anyone wonders whether elections have consequences, just look at Virginia during the 2020-22 legislative session. With a majority Democratic Party control in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly as well as the governorship, here are the things Virginia was able to accomplish.
Moved Virginia from 49th place to 12th place in voting rights by creating an early voting window, creating no-excuse absentee voting and voting by mail, drop-off boxes, and ways of “curing” errors in absentee voting.
Passed the Virginia Clean Economy Act
Raised teacher pay, funded additional support staff for schools, provided for free community college for low- to middle-income students
Built on the expanded Medicaid provided for in the previous session by passing legislation to stabilize the state-run marketplace for insurance coverage, and made sweeping changes in abortion law, supporting the woman’s right to choose.
Voted to increase the minimum wage to $12.00 an hour – the first increase since 2009. Not the $15.00 that the Democrats wanted, but it was a step in the right direction
Passed tighter gun laws, including mandatory background checks and red flag laws, as well as reinstating the one-handgun-a-month law.
Abolished the death penalty and legalized marijuana, and passed laws banning no-knock police churches, limiting the use of chokeholds, and authorizing the attorney general to investigate local police departments.
Repealed nearly 100 outdated, discriminatory laws still on the books, leftovers from the Jim Crow era. They also repealed a ban on gay marriage still in the state Constitution, put in place a range of new civil rights protections (including explicit language banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in housing, employment, and public accommodations. In addition, they passed legislation that allowed local governments to take down Confederate statues, which led to the removal of 71 monuments and memorials this year.
Extended driver privilege cards, in-state tuition, and financial assistance to undocumented immigrants living in Virginia (including those who fall under the DACA category).
Not as much progress was made in other areas, like worker protection, campaign finance, and tax reform. Meanwhile, Virginia remains at the top of the rankings among states for its public education system and its “business friendliness.”
When the General Assembly session began in January of 2022, many of these advances were at risk. The new Governor, Glenn Youngkin, was a Republican, and he vowed to work with the new Republican majority in the House of Delegates to undo many of the reforms of the previous two years. But the State Senate (still controlled by Democrats by a slim margin) earned the name “The Brick Wall Caucus,” standing firm to support the earlier accomplishments.
Now there’s a question facing Virginia. Because of the Trump administration’s shenanigans with the census in 2020 (remember that?), Virginia wasn’t able to redraw its legislative districts in time for the 2021 statewide elections. (Virginia and New Jersey are the only states that have off-year elections). So Virginia’s House of Delegates elections held in November of 2021 were based on the “old” districts, which did not reflect the population shifts which are continuing to make Virginia “bluer” over time. A case is making its way through the federal courts, in which plaintiffs are suing to require Virginia to hold new House of Delegates elections this year, 2022, rather than live with the results of elections in outdated districts from 2021. The case is based on the 14th Amendment requirement of equal voting rights, often summarized in the phrase “one person one vote.” The NAACP, League of Women Voters, and other voting rights groups have announced their support for this case. We’ll find out in a few weeks whether we’ll hold new elections with the new districts (which are considered to be more fairly drawn than the old districts, and which would probably return the Democrats to control in the House of Delegates and maintain their control in the State Senate). Not surprisingly, the Youngkin administration has come out against holding new elections.