164th Virginia General Assembly
| 164th Virginia General Assembly | |||||
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| Overview | |||||
| Term | January 14, 2026 – | ||||
| Senate of Virginia | |||||
| Members | 40 | ||||
| President of the Senate | Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi (D) | ||||
| Senate Majority Leader | Scott Surovell (D) | ||||
| Senate Minority Leader | Ryan McDougle (R) | ||||
| Party control | Democratic | ||||
| Virginia House of Delegates | |||||
| Members | 100 | ||||
| Speaker of the House | Don Scott (D) | ||||
| House Majority Leader | Charniele Herring (D) | ||||
| House Minority Leader | Terry Kilgore (R) | ||||
| Party control | Democratic | ||||
| Sessions | |||||
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The 164th Virginia General Assembly, consisting of members who were elected to the Senate in 2023 and the House of Delegates in 2025, will convene on January 14, 2026. Democrats will retain a majority in the Virginia Senate and expand their majority in the House of Delegates, with Democratic former State Senator Ghazala Hashmi becoming the next Lieutenant Governor. The 2023 Senate election was the first, and the 2025 House election was the second, to be held under maps for both houses of the Virginia General Assembly which were approved by the Virginia Redistricting Commission and the Supreme Court of Virginia in 2021, which were the first in Virginia history to not be drawn and approved by the legislature.
The 2026 session is set to begin on January 14 and adjourn on March 16, 2026.
Legislation
[edit]Intended legislation of the Democratic majorities include the following which were, or are set to be, initiated in the previous General Assembly:
- HJ1 / SJ247 (initiated March 24, 2025): Constitutional amendment to guarantee a right to abortion[1][2]
- HJ9 / SJ249 (initiated March 24, 2025): Constitutional amendment to legalize same-sex marriage
- HJ2 / SJ248 (initiated March 24, 2025): Constitutional amendment to automatically restore voting rights to formerly-incarcerated individuals
- HJ6007 (initiated October 31, 2025): Constitutional amendment to allow legislative mid-decade redistricting of congressional districts in response to mid-decade redistricting by other states.[3]
Constitutional amendments, under Virginia law, must be initiated by majorities in both houses in two consecutive legislatures before being sent to voters for approval.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "In a historic vote, constitutional amendment to protect reproductive freedom passes the General Assembly". ACLU of Virginia. Retrieved 2025-10-29.
- ^ Khalil, Jahd (2025-01-20). "Virginia Senate pushes forward constitutional amendments". VPM. Retrieved 2025-10-29.
- ^ Schmidt, Markus (2025-10-23). "House Speaker calls Virginia lawmakers back to Richmond as possible redistricting fight brews • Virginia Mercury". Virginia Mercury. Retrieved 2025-10-29.
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