Attorney General of Virginia

The **attorney general of Virginia** is an elected constitutional role that is an executive office in the government of Virginia. Attorneys general are elected for a four-year term. There are no term limits for this role.

### Colonial Virginia

Source:

|Name|Term|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- |
|Richard Lee|October 12, 1643 – 1642|Appointed by Governor William Berkeley and Council|
|(Office not in use?)|1652–1660|Office apparently vacant during the Interregnum|
|Peter Jenings|Before June 25, 1670 – c. October 12, 1670|Reappointed by Charles II of England on September 15, 1670|
|George Jordan|October 12, 1670 – at least October 3, 1672|Appointed by Governor William Berkeley and Council|
|Robert Beverley|March 10, 1676 (appointed)|Appointed by Governor William Berkeley and Council|
|George Jordan|Acting on May 20, 1677||
|William Sherwood|Early March 1677 – at least until November 25, 1678||
|Edward Hill|appointed by Deputy Governor Henry Chicheley on September 27, 1679.||
|Edmund Jenings|1680 – before November 16, 1686||
|George Brent|Before November 16, 1686 – before May 1, 1688|Acting|
|Edmund Jenings|c. May 1, 1688 – June 10, 1691||
|Edward Chilton|October 20, 1691 (sworn) – April 1694|Appointed by Governor Francis Nicholson. Resigned.|
|William Randolph|April 1694 (sworn) – October 29, 1698|Appointed by Governor Francis Nicholson. Resigned.|
|Bartholomew Fowler|October 29, 1698 – September 4, 1700|Appointed by Governor Francis Nicholson. Resigned.|
|Benjamin Harrison III|October 17, 1700 – c. 1702|Appointed by Governor Francis Nicholson and Council.|
|Stevens Thomson|March 2, 1704 (sworn) – February 1714|Privy Council approved appointment July 30, 1703. Died in office.|
|John Clayton|1714 – November 18, 1737|Appointed by Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood, given leave to England|
|John Randolph|April 22, 1726 – late 1727 or early 1728|Appointed acting by Lieutenant Governor William Gooch in Clayton's absence|
|John Clayton|late 1727 or early 1728 – November 18, 1737|Reappointed by royal warrant after February 29, 1728. Died in office|
|Edward Barradall|Acting between November 17 and 25, 1737 – June 19, 1743|Appointed acting by Lieutenant Governor William Gooch, followed by warrant March 7, 1738, died in office|
|Thomas Nelson|Between June 19 and 27, 1743 – summer 1744|Appointed acting by Lieutenant Governor William Gooch|
|Peyton Randolph|May 7, 1744 (warrant) – sometime before January 29, 1754|Office declared forfeit on June 20, 1754|
|Peyton Randolph|May 13, 1755 (warrant) – sometime soon after November 22, 1766|Resigned|
|George Wythe|c. January 29, 1754 – between January 20 and February 10, 1755|Appointed acting by Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie|
|George Wythe|c. after November 22, 1766 – between June 4 and 11, 1767|Appointed acting by Lieutenant Governor Francis Fauquier|
|John Randolph|Between June 4 and 11, 1767 – early September 1775 (fled)|Fled Virginia in September 1775|

### Virginia (1776–1857)

|Image|Name|Term|Party|Notes||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||Edmund Randolph|early July 1776 – November 30, 1786||Elected by convention||
||James Innes|November 30, 1786 – November 13, 1796||Resigned||
||John Marshall|mid-October 1794 – late March 1795||Acting||
||Robert Brooke|mid-November 1796 – February 27, 1800||Democratic-Republican|Died in office|
||Philip Norborne Nicholas|March 15, 1800 – January 7, 1819||Democratic-Republican|Appointed by Governor James Monroe, elected by General Assembly, resigned|
||John Robertson|January 21, 1819 – mid-October 1834||Democratic|Resigned|
||Sidney Smith Baxter|December 11, 1834 – January 1, 1852||Democratic||
||Willis Perry Bocock|January 1, 1852 – May 15, 1857||Democratic|Resigned|

### Civil War and Reconstruction

|Image|Name|Term|Party|Notes||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||John Randolph Tucker|June 13, 1857 – May 9, 1865||Democratic|Confederate attorney general throughout war. Left office when government abandoned Richmond.|
||James S. Wheat|June 21, 1861 – December 7, 1863||Republican|Elected at the Wheeling Convention and then in a May 1862 election for the Restored Government of Virginia in Wheeling.|
||Thomas Russell Bowden|December 7, 1863 – August 1, 1869||Union|Attorney general for the Restored Government of Virginia in Wheeling, then Alexandria, after West Virginia separated, and in post-war Reconstruction Virginia.|
||Charles Whittlesey|September 10, 1869 – January 19, 1870||Republican|Appointed and removed by Brigadier General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby|
||James Craig Taylor|January 19, 1870 – January 1, 1874||Conservative Party of Virginia|Appointed by Brigadier General Canby after winning election (moving forward swearing-in date)|

### Virginia (1874–present)

|Image|Name|Term|Party|Notes||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||Raleigh Travers Daniel|January 1, 1874 – August 16, 1877||Conservative Party of Virginia|Died in office|
||James Gavin Field|August 29, 1877 – January 1, 1882||Conservative Party of Virginia|Appointed and then elected|
||Francis Simpson Blair|January 1, 1882 – January 1, 1886||Readjuster Party||
||Rufus A. Ayers|January 1, 1886 – January 1, 1890||Democratic||
||R. Taylor Scott|January 1, 1890 – August 5, 1897||Democratic|Died in office|
||Richard Carter Scott|August 11, 1897 – January 1, 1898||Democratic|appointed by Governor Charles T. O'Ferrall|
||Andrew Jackson Montague|January 1, 1898 – January 1, 1902||Democratic|Became governor January 1, 1902|
||William Alexander Anderson|January 1, 1902 – February 1, 1910||Democratic||
||Samuel Walker Williams|February 1, 1910 – February 2, 1914||Democratic||
||John Garland Pollard|February 2, 1914 – January 5, 1918||Democratic|Resigned.|
||Josiah D. Hank Jr.|January 5, 1918 - February 1, 1918||Democratic|Appointed by Governor Henry C. Stuart|
||John R. Saunders|February 1, 1918 – March 17, 1934||Democratic|Died in office|
||Abram Penn Staples|March 22, 1934 – October 6, 1947||Democratic|Resigned to become judge of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals|
||Harvey Black Apperson|October 7, 1947 – February 2, 1948||Democratic|Appointed by Governor; Died in office|
||J. Lindsay Almond|February 11, 1948 – September 16, 1957||Democratic|Resigned to run for Governor|
||Kenneth Cartwright Patty|September 1957 – January 1958||Democratic|Appointed by Governor|
||Albertis Sydney Harrison|January 1958 – April 1961||Democratic|Resigned to run for Governor|
||Frederick Thomas Gray|May 1961 – January 1962||Democratic|Appointed by Governor|
||Robert Young Button|January 1962 – January 1970||Democratic||
||Andrew Pickens Miller|January 1970 – January 1977||Democratic|Resigned to run for Governor|
||Anthony Francis Troy|January 1977 – January 1978||Democratic||
||J. Marshall Coleman|January 14, 1978 – January 16, 1982||Republican||
||Gerald Baliles|January 16, 1982 – June 30, 1985||Democratic|Resigned to run for Governor|
||William Broaddus|July 1, 1985 – January 11, 1986||Democratic||
||Mary Sue Terry|January 11, 1986 – January 28, 1993||Democratic|Resigned to run for Governor|
||Stephen D. Rosenthal|January 29, 1993 – January 15, 1994||Democratic||
||Jim Gilmore|January 15, 1994 – June 11, 1997||Republican|Resigned to run for Governor|
||Richard Cullen|June 11, 1997 – January 17, 1998||Republican||
||Mark Earley|January 17, 1998 – June 4, 2001||Republican|Resigned to run for Governor|
||Randolph A. Beales|July 11, 2001 – January 12, 2002||Republican||
||Jerry Kilgore|January 12, 2002 – February 1, 2005||Republican|Resigned to run for Governor|
||Judith Jagdmann|February 1, 2005 – January 14, 2006||Republican||
||Bob McDonnell|January 14, 2006 – February 20, 2009||Republican|Resigned to run for Governor|
||Bill Mims|February 20, 2009 – January 16, 2010||Republican||
||Ken Cuccinelli|January 16, 2010 – January 11, 2014||Republican||
||Mark Herring|January 11, 2014 – January 15, 2022||Democratic||
||Jason Miyares|January 15, 2022 – January 17, 2026||Republican|First attorney general of Hispanic and Cuban descent.|
||Jay Jones|January 17, 2026 – present||Democratic|First African-American attorney general|

## Infobox (official post)

- **post**: Attorney General
- **body**: Virginia
- **insignia**: Seal of the Attorney General of Virginia.jpg
- **insigniacaption**: Seal of the attorney general of Virginia
- **image**: Jay Jones Speaks at rally in Fairfax City (cropped).png
- **incumbent**: Jay Jones
- **incumbentsince**: January 17, 2026
- **type**: Elected constitutional position
- **style**: The Honorable
- **termlength**: Four years
- **formation**: 1776
- **first**: Edmund Randolph