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Charniele Herring

American politician

Summary

American politician

Field	Value
name	Charniele Herring
image	File:Charniele Herring VA Delegate Dec 2010.jpg
caption	Herring in 2010
office	Majority Leader of the Virginia House of Delegates
term_start	January 10, 2024
predecessor	Terry Kilgore
term_start1	January 8, 2020
term_end1	January 12, 2022
predecessor1	Todd Gilbert
successor1	Terry Kilgore
office2	Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
constituency2	46th district (2009–2024)
4th district (2024–present)
term_start2	January 26, 2009
predecessor2	Brian Moran
office3	Chair of the Virginia Democratic Party
term_start3	December 8, 2012
term_end3	March 15, 2014
predecessor3	Brian Moran
successor3	Dwight Jones
birth_name	Charniele LeRhonda Herring
birth_date
birth_place	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
party	Democratic
education	George Mason University (BA)
Catholic University (JD)
website

4th district (2024–present) Catholic University (JD) Charniele LeRhonda Herring ( ; born September 25, 1969) is an American politician. She has served in the Virginia House of Delegates since 2009, representing the 4th district, made up of portions of the city of Alexandria and Fairfax County, near Washington, D.C. She is the current Majority Leader of the Virginia House of Delegates.

Herring is a member of the Democratic Party. She has been the House Democratic Caucus Chair since 2015 and in December 2012, she was the first African-American to be elected chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia. In 2020, she was elected to be the Majority Leader in the Virginia House of Delegates, making her the first woman and the first African-American to hold the position. After April 27, 2022, she was de facto minority leader following the ouster of Eileen Filler-Corn. The Democratic caucus did not immediately choose a replacement for Filler-Corn, but simultaneously voted to retain Herring as their caucus chair. On June 1, 2022, Delegate Don Scott, who had called for the ouster of both Herring and Filler-Corn, was selected as minority leader.

Personal life, non-political career

Herring was born in the Dominican Republic. A self-described "Army brat", she traveled frequently as a child. When she was 16 years old, her mother lost her job, and the two lived in a homeless shelter for six months.

Herring studied for three years with the Virginia Ballet School and Company. She earned a B.A. in economics from George Mason University in 1993 and a J.D. from the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America in 1997.

Herring was a VISTA volunteer.

Political career

At age 13, during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, Herring testified before a government commission about health care coverage for military dependent children.

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine appointed Herring to the state's Council on the Status of Women. In 2006, she attended the Political Leaders Program at the University of Virginia's Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership.

Virginia House of Delegates

Delegate Brian Moran resigned his House seat on December 12, 2008 to spend full-time on his 2009 campaign for governor. Herring immediately announced her candidacy for the vacancy. In a caucus on December 16, Herring won the Democratic nomination, defeating Ariel Gonzalez, director of governmental affairs for the American College of Radiology, 191–43.

In the special election on January 13, 2009, she defeated Republican nominee Joe Murray, an aide to Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC), by 16 votes. Murray requested a recount, which was resolved in Herring's favor; she was sworn in on January 26.

Herring was the first African-American woman ever elected to represent Northern Virginia in the General Assembly. She was elected to serve as the Chairwoman of the Democratic Party in Virginia in 2012 and remained in the role until 2014. In 2015, she was elected Chair of the House Democratic Caucus. After the Democratic Party gained control of the House of Delegates in 2019, Herring was elected to serve as the Majority Leader. She is the first woman and African-American and served in this role until the Republicans regained control of the House of Delegates in 2021.

She currently serves as the chair of the Courts of Justice Committee, and she is the first woman and African-American to hold this role as well. She also serves as a member of the Rules committee and Joint Rules Subcommittee.

Herring has a lengthy career advocating for criminal justice reforms in Virginia, and after serving on the Crime Commission for 9 years, she was elected as the Chair of the committee in 2020.

Electoral history

Date	Election	Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Special	Charniele L. Herring		Democratic	1,344	50.15
Joe R. Murray		Republican	1,328	49.57
Write Ins	7	0.26
Brian Moran resigned; seat stayed Democratic
General	Charniele L. Herring		Democratic	8,778	63.98
Sasha Gong		Republican	4,929	35.93
Write Ins	11	0.08
General	Charniele L. Herring		Democratic	7,664	95.19
Write Ins	378	4.80
General	Charniele L. Herring		Democratic	15,066	95.7
Write Ins	684	4.3
General	Charniele L. Herring		Democratic	7,507	67.0
Sean T. Lenehan		Republican	3,170	28.3
Andrew G. Bakker		Libertarian	505	4.5
Write Ins	29	0.3
General	Charniele L. Herring		Democratic	18,947	96.4
Write Ins	706	3.6
General	Charniele L. Herring		Democratic	12,270	92
Write Ins	1,063	7.9
General	Charniele L. Herring		Democratic	20,445	92.2
Write Ins	1,740	7.8
General	Charniele L. Herring		Democratic	10,843	93.2

Notes

References

"Charniele Lerhonda Herring Lawyer Profile on Martindale.com".
"Charniele Herring from Alexandria, Virginia". youtube.
"Bio for Charniele L. Herring". Virginia House of Delegates.
Haines, Errin. (2012-12-08). "Virginia Democrats elect the state's first African American party chair". Washington Post.
Schmidt, Markus. (2022-04-27). "Democrats oust Filler-Corn as House Minority Leader".
Mirshahi, Dean. (27 April 2022). "Virginia House Democrats remove Filler-Corn as leader".
Moomaw, Graham. (1 June 2022). "Va. House Democrats pick Scott as new minority leader".
(2006-08-14). "Political Leaders 2006 Profile: Charniele Herring". Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership.
Lans, Michael. (2009-01-11). "Candidates Hustle for Attention in Sprint to Replace Moran". Washington Post.
"Meet Charniele". Charniele Herring.
Craig, Tim. (2008-12-16). "Herring Defeats Gonzalez; Murray Wins GOP Nod". Washington Post.
Meola, Olympia. (January 26, 2009). "Va. House swears in delegate after recount". Richmond Times-Dispatch.
"Virginia House of Delegates Member Listings".
"January 13, 2009 Special Election Official Results". Virginia State Board of Elections.
"November 2009 General Election Official Results". Virginia State Board of Elections.
"November 2011 General Election Official Results". Virginia State Board of Elections.
"Virginia Elections Database » 2013 House of Delegates General Election District 46". Virginia Department of Elections.
"Virginia Elections Database » 2015 House of Delegates General Election District 46". Virginia Department of Elections.
"Virginia Elections Database » 2017 House of Delegates General Election District 46". Virginia Department of Elections.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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