FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE from VMA's consultant, Kemper Consulting
January 15, 2026
Virginia General Assembly Convenes
The Virginia House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia convened at noon yesterday, commencing the 2026 General Assembly Session. In accordance with the Constitution of Virginia, the chambers’ joint procedural resolution establishes a 60-day or long session. A summary of key session dates is included in this update. The long session, in even years, is reserved for the adoption of the new biennial budget (2026-2028). The General Assembly convenes in 46-day or short sessions in odd years.
Yesterday evening, Governor Glenn Youngkin (R), offered his final State of the Commonwealth address to a Joint Session of the House and Senate.
The Governor-elect, former U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger (D), will be inaugurated at noon on Saturday, January 17th, and will offer an inaugural address. The new Governor will also address a Joint Session of the General Assembly on Monday, January 19th.
House of Delegates: Leadership and Committee Assignments
The House re-elected Delegate Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) Speaker. The Speaker is the presiding officer of the House and makes appointments, including to committees. Delegate Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria) will continue to serve as Majority Leader, and Delegate Kathy Tran (D-Fairfax) will continue to serve as Caucus Chair. Delegate Terry Kilgore (R-Scott County) was elected Minority Leader by the Republican Caucus in November, and Delegate Scott Wyatt (R-Hanover) will serve as Caucus Chair.
The Speaker announced committee chairs and members yesterday. The list of committee chairs is below.
Committee Chairs
- Delegate Alfonso Lopez, Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources
- Delegate Luke Torian, Appropriations
- Delegate Cliff Hayes, Communications, Technology, and Innovation
- Delegate Dan Helmer, Counties, Cities, and Towns New
- Delegate Patrick Hope, Courts of Justice
- Delegate Sam Rasoul, Education
- Delegate Vivian Watts, Finance
- Delegate Paul Krizek, General Laws
- Delegate Rodney Willett, Health and Human Services New
- Delegate Jeion Ward, Labor and Commerce
- Delegate Marcia “Cia” Price, Privileges and Elections
- Delegate Marcus Simon, Public Safety
- Speaker Don Scott, Rules
- Delegate Karrie Delaney, Transportation
The full committee membership list can be found here.
Senate: Leadership and Committee Assignments
The Senate Democratic and Republican leadership remains unchanged from 2025: Senator Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax County) is the Majority Leader, and Senator Mamie Locke (D-Hampton) is the Democratic Caucus Chair. Senator Ryan McDougle (R-Mechanicsville) is the Minority Leader, and Senator Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) is the Republican Caucus Chair. Senator L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) is Senate Pro Tempore of the Senate.
The election of Senator Ghazala Hashmi (D-Chesterfield County) to the Office of Lieutenant Governor and former Delegate Mike Jones (D-Richmond) to succeed her will alter several Senate committees, including chairs and membership. Hashmi is the former chair of the Senate Education and Health Committee and serves on the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee. Current Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earl-Sears will preside over the Senate until Lt. Governor-elect Hashmi takes office on Saturday, the 17th.
The Senate Rules Committee announced committee chairs and members yesterday. A list of committee chairs is below.
Committee Chairs
- Senator Dave Marsden, Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources
- Senator Creigh Deeds, Commerce and Labor
- Senator Barbara Favola, Education and Health New
- Senator L. Louise Lucas, Finance and Appropriations
- Senator Adam Ebbin, General Laws and Technology
- Senator Scott Surovell, Judiciary
- Senator Jeremy McPike, Local Government
- Senator Aaron Rouse, Privileges and Elections
- Senator Schuyler VanValkenburg, Rehabilitation and Social Services New
- Senator Mamie E. Locke, Rules
- Senator Jennifer Boysko, Transportation
When available, the full committee membership list can be found here.
Special Elections
As Kemper Consulting previously discussed in our post-election release, in addition to electing a new governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general, Virginia voters went to the polls on November 4 to elect members of the House of Delegates. Prior to the November elections, Democrats controlled the House 51- 49. The Republican Party saw significant losses as a result of the 2025 House races, losing 13 seats in November. The Senate is next on the ballot, along with the House, in 2027 (Delegates serve two-year terms and Senators serve four-year terms). Democrats maintain control of the Senate (21-19).
The election of Lieutenant Governor-elect Hashmi, as well as the appointment of three members of the House of Delegates to Governor-elect Spanberger’s cabinet, has triggered several special elections outlined below.
- As previously mentioned, Delegate Mike Jones (D-Richmond), a pastor and former Richmond City Councilmember, will replace Senator Gazala Hashmi (D-Chesterfield) in Senate District 15 when she becomes the new Lieutenant Governor of Virginia on Saturday, January 17th.
- Charlie Schmidt (D-Richmond), a local attorney and community leader, won the recent special election in House District 17 to fill the vacancy created by Jones’s election.
- Delegate David Bulova’s (D-Fairfax County) House District 11 seat was filled yesterday by his spouse, Gretchen Bulova (D-Fairfax County). She is the longtime Director of the Office of Historic Alexandria, and he is the incoming Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources to Governor Spanberger.
- Delegate Candi Mundon King (D-Prince William County), House District 23, is stepping down to become Governor Spanberger’s Secretary of the Commonwealth. Yesterday, Margaret Angela Franklin (D), a member of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, won the special election to fill the seat.
- Delegate Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County), House District 17, is resigning to become Governor Spanberger’s Secretary of Finance, and the special election is set for Tuesday, January 20. Democrat Garrett McGuire, a former legislative aide and public policy official, will face off against Republican Christopher Cardiff, a homeschooling advocate who worked for a data analytics company, in this district that heavily favors Democrats.
- State Senator Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) announced he will resign effective February 18, 2026, in order to join Governor Spanberger’s administration as a senior advisor regarding cannabis. Ebbin’s forthcoming resignation creates a vacancy in Senate District 39 (the City of Alexandria, and parts of Arlington and Fairfax counties), which will result in a special election on February 10, 2026 for Ebbin’s Senate seat. Delegate Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria) won a Democratic firehouse primary last night, defeating former Delegate Mark Levine and two other candidates. If, as expected, Bennett-Parker is elected to the Senate in February (Ebbin won 78 percent of the vote in 2023), a special House election will be called to fill her House District 5 seat.
Session Outlook
Governor-elect Spanberger ran on an affordability agenda, and House and Senate leadership held a press conference yesterday to highlight their 2026 agendas. House and Senate Democrats highlighted several priorities, including raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour; incentivizing a greater supply of affordable housing; attempting to address the rising costs of residential power bills associated with the proliferation of data centers; bringing down the costs of specific prescription drugs; and providing new and recurring transit funding in Northern Virginia, if not statewide. The budget picture is complicated by a biennial Medicaid funding shortfall of more than $2.0 billion, and the requirement to update the statewide K-12 funding formula at a cost of more than $900 over the next two years. Additionally, the legislature must decide whether to conform Virginia’s income taxes - personal and corporate - to the 2025 federal changes, and also react to federal spending cuts impacting several areas, but notably in the health and human services. Depending on their policy decisions, the new biennial costs could range between $1.0 and $2.0 billion.
The Democrats’ “trifecta” - controlling the House, Senate and the executive branch - suggests that many of the bills Governor Youngkin vetoed in the past four years will become law this year. These bills cover a variety of subject areas and committees (one example: establishing a retail marketplace for marijuana). Governor Spanberger will have the opportunity to propose specific amendments to bills, including the budget. As a reminder, Virginia’s governors have 30 days upon adjournment of the General Assembly to act on approved legislation and retain the authority to approve (i.e. sign bills into law), veto, and propose amendments to those measures. Should the legislature send any bills to the Governor with more than seven days left in the session, she has only seven days to act.
Both chambers did not waste any time getting to work this afternoon. The House and Senate Privileges and Elections Committees both met to pass the required second reference of four constitutional amendments: Fundamental Right to Reproductive Freedom (HJ 1/SJ 1), Automatic Restoration of Voting Rights (HJ 2/SJ 2), Repealing the same-sex marriage prohibition & protecting marriage equality (HJ 3/SJ 3), and Limited General Assembly Authority to Redistrict (HJ 4/SJ 4). We expect all four resolutions to pass in the coming days, and a special election to be called in mid-April when the amendments will appear on the ballot as referenda.
Below, please find key legislative information:
1. An outline of key session dates
- Wednesday, January 14, 2026 – First Day of Session, Governor Glenn Youngkin delivers the annual State of the Commonwealth Address to a Joint Session of the House and Senate
- Friday, January 16, 2026 – House and Senate Member Budget Amendments Due
- Saturday, January 17, 2026 – 2026 Inauguration Day: Governor Abigail Spanberger to be sworn into office along with Lieutenant Governor Gazala Hashmi and Attorney General Jay Jones.
- Monday, January 19, 2026 - Governor Abigail Spanberger delivers an address to a Joint Session of the House and Senate
- Tuesday, January 20, 2026 – Special Election in House District 17
- Tuesday, February 10, 2026 - Special Election in Senate District 39
- Tuesday, February 17, 2026 – Crossover (last day for the House to act on House bills and the Senate to act on Senate bills)
- Sunday, February 22, 2026 – Senate and House budgets approved by the respective budget committees - House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations
- Saturday, March 14, 2026 – Adjournment Sine Die (scheduled)
- Wednesday, April 22, 2026 – Reconvened Session for purposes of considering the Governor’s actions - proposed vetoes and amendments
2. Member Contact Information (Note: Please use Richmond-based information during the session, and some Delegates have new offices):