The 2025 Virginia General Assembly session, explained

It isn't quite Christmas yet, but the legislators of Virginia's General Assembly have been at it, pre-filing bills and getting ready for January. Most in the state know that Glenn Youngkin is our current governor, though this is the beginning of his last year, but who runs the legislature? Follow me onwards to a breakdown.

Virginia's General Assembly traces its heritage back to the pre-1776 House of Burgesses: the Burgesses met starting in 1619 and then became of House of Delegates post 1776. The Senate of Virginia traces its history back to the Governor's Council, which became an elected body post 1776 as well.

Nowadays, there are 100 members of the House of Delegates and 40 members of the Senate of Virginia. They meet starting in January of each year and meet for 60 days in even-numbered years and 30 days in odd-numbered years, though both are often extended. This makes Virginia's General Assembly a part-time legislature, ostensibly tracing back to Thomas Jefferson's idea of citizen-legislators. However, this ends up prioritizing people who are able to take 2 months a year off from their day job to be a legislator, and excludes many people who simply can't afford to do that.

This General Assembly session will be Governor Youngkin's last chance to craft and try to pass a budget and any other laws that he wants to try and include in his legacy (or resume if he's looking for higher office) when it starts on January 8th. However, the rest of the cast of legislative characters is unlikely to look too fondly on his wishes.

Don Scott became the first black Speaker of the House of Delegates in January 2024, as the Democrats took back the chamber from Republicans. He leads a caucus of 51 Democrats, and Todd Gilbert (sigh) leads the Republican caucus, consisting of 49 members. The Senate is similarly split, with Scott Surovell leading the Democratic caucus and its 20 members and Ryan McDougle (my senator) leading the 19 Republicans. There is one seat vacant, with Suhas Subramanyam having been elected to replace Jennifer Wexton in the US House of Representatives. Subramanyam won his last election 60/40, so it is likely to stay in Democratic hands when Kannan Srinivasan faces off against Tumay Harding on January 7, 2025.

This is where the chess pieces lay as of today, but Session is a flurry of activity in a short amount of time. Come join me on this journey together! An editorial note: this is not a news site, or "unbiased," or anything like that, and I will not pretend to be. If you don't like what I write, or what I advocate for, you are free to go elsewhere.