Mark Rankin Herring (born September 25, 1961) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th

Attorney General of Virginia The attorney general of Virginia is an elected constitutional position that holds an executive office in the government of Virginia. Attorneys general are elected for a four-year term in the year following a presidential election. There are no ter ...

from 2014 to 2022. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, he previously served in the

Senate of Virginia The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virg ...

since a 2006 special election, representing the 33rd district, made up of parts of Fairfax and

Loudoun Loudoun ( gd, Lughdan) is a parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland and lies between five and ten miles east of Kilmarnock. The parish roughly encompasses the northern half of the Upper-Irvine Valley and borders Galston Parish (which encompasses the ...

counties. In

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, Herring lost re-election for a third term to Republican challenger

Jason Miyares Jason Stuart Miyares (born February 11, 1976) is an American attorney and politician serving as the 48th Attorney General of Virginia since January 15, 2022. A Republican, he was elected a member of the Virginia House of Delegates on November 3, ...

Early life and education

Herring was born in

Johnson City, Tennessee Johnson City is a city in Washington, Carter, and Sullivan counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, mostly in Washington County. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 71,046, making it the eighth largest city in Tennessee. John ...

, and moved to

Leesburg, Virginia Leesburg is a town in the state of Virginia, and the county seat of Loudoun County. Settlement in the area began around 1740, which is named for the Lee family, early leaders of the town and ancestors of Robert E. Lee. Located in the far northea ...

at the age of 12. Raised by Jane Rankin Herring, a single mother, he graduated from

Loudoun Valley High School Loudoun Valley High School (more commonly known as Valley) is a public secondary school in Purcellville, Virginia. It is part of Loudoun County Public Schools. Before the opening of Woodgrove High School in 2010, it was the sole high school for th ...

in 1979 and worked in construction and many other jobs to pay for college. He eventually obtained a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in

foreign affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...

and

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. He also obtained a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in foreign affairs from

UVA UVA most often refers to: * Ultraviolet A, a type of ultraviolet radiation * University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States Uva or UVA may also refer to: Places * Uva, Missouri, an unincorpora ...

. He later obtained a J.D. from the

University of Richmond School of Law The University of Richmond School of Law (Richmond Law) is a school of the University of Richmond, located in Richmond, Virginia. Richmond Law is ranked 52nd (tie) in the US by ''US News'', among the ''top five value'' law schools by the ''Natio ...

Early career

He served in elected office on the

Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Loudoun County, Virginia is divided into eight magisterial districts: Algonkian, Ashburn, Blue Ridge, Broad Run, Catoctin, Dulles, Leesburg, and Sterling. The magisterial districts each elect one supervisor to the Board of Supervisors whi ...

from 2000 to 2003, and was the town attorney for

Lovettsville, Virginia Lovettsville is a town in Loudoun County, located near the very northern tip of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. Settled primarily by German immigrants, the town was originally established in 1836. The population was 1,613 at the 2010 ...

, from 1992 to 1999. Herring was elected to the Senate of Virginia in a special election triggered by Republican Bill Mims' appointment as chief deputy attorney general of Virginia. He was re-elected to a full term in the 2007 election, and re-elected again in 2011. He is the principal with The Herring Law Firm, P.C., in

Attorney General of Virginia

Elections

2013

On July 24, 2012, he announced that he would run for the office of

, in the 2013 elections. On April 2, 2013, The

Democratic Party of Virginia The Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA/VA Dems) is the Virginia affiliate of the Democratic Party based in Richmond, Virginia. Historically, the Democratic Party has dominated Virginia politics. Since the 1851 Virginia gubernatorial election, the ...

certified that Herring's name would appear on the June primary ballot. Herring defeated

Justin Fairfax Justin Edward Fairfax (born February 17, 1979) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 41st lieutenant governor of Virginia from 2018 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the second African-American elected statewide i ...

in the Democratic primary in June 11, 2013, winning narrowly by a margin of 52% to 48%. He faced Republican

Mark Obenshain Mark Dudley Obenshain (born June 11, 1962) is an American Attorney at law, attorney and politician. He is currently serving as a member of the Senate of Virginia from Harrisonburg, Virginia, Harrisonburg. He is a member of the Republican Party of ...

in the general election. On the night of the election, Obenshain held a 1,200-vote lead over Herring. Vote totals fluctuated as ballots were canvassed in the following days, and the race remained too close to call. On November 12, 2013, with all ballots counted, Herring held a 165-vote lead, or less than 0.01%, and Obenshain requested a recount. Herring's total increased during the recount, so Obenshain conceded the election on December 18, 2013, and later that day, the recount ended with Herring winning by 907 votes, or 0.04%. Herring was sworn into office on January 11, 2014.

2017

Herring faced no opposition in the Democratic primary and won his party's endorsement for re-election. He defeated Republican opponent

John Donley Adams John Donley Adams (born November 2, 1973) is an American lawyer from Virginia. He is a partner at McGuire Woods, where he chairs the Government Investigations Department and co-chairs the Appellate Team. Adams ran for Attorney General of Virginia ...

and won re-election by 53% to 47%.

2021

On September 2, 2020, Herring announced that he would be seeking re-election as attorney general instead of running for governor. On November 2, 2021, Herring lost his reelection bid to Republican challenger

, a Virginia House delegate. He slightly outperformed the other candidates Terry McAuliffe and

Hala Ayala Hala S. Ayala (born 1973) is an American politician who represented the 51st district in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2018 to 2022. She was the Democratic nominee in the 2021 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election, losing to Repub ...

, who were all on the Democratic ticket.

Tenure

Virginia Marriage Amendment

On January 23, 2014, Herring announced that he would not defend the Virginia Marriage Amendment in federal court, and filed a brief in a federal lawsuit being brought against the law asking for it to be struck down. Herring said in a press conference announcing the move, "I believe the freedom to marry is a fundamental right and I intend to ensure that Virginia is on the right side of history and the right side of the law."Va. Attorney General Mark Herring files brief opposing same-sex marriage ban
''The Washington Post'' Reaction to the announcement was mainly along party lines, with Democrats mostly praising the move and Republicans mostly criticizing it as violating his oath of office. The

National Organization for Marriage The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is an American non-profit political organization established to work against the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. It was formed in 2007 specifically to pass California Proposit ...

has called for Herring's impeachment, claiming that the Virginia attorney general is obligated to defend all state laws against challenges. In the press conference, Herring said, "There are those who will say that the attorney general is required to defend every challenge to a state law, even a law that is unconstitutional. They could not be more wrong." The U.S. District Court in Norfolk ruled the amendment unconstitutional in the case ''Bostic v. Schaefer'' on February 13, 2014. On July 28, 2014, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 2–1 opinion upholding the lower court's decision. This was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, which denied a writ of certiorari, letting the Fourth Circuit Court's decision stand and legalizing same-sex marriage in Virginia.

Gerrymandering case

In 2019, Mark Herring and the Democratic Party won their case against

gerrymandering In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...

in Virginia elections when the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

dismissed the Virginia House GOP's appeal.

Blackface controversy

A few days after the controversy began over a

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...

picture appearing on

Ralph Northam Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

's page in a 1984 medical school yearbook in the context of the

2019 Virginia political crisis Over the course of one week in February 2019, all three of Virginia's statewide elected executive officials (all members of the Democratic Party) became engulfed in scandal, and were consequently the subjects of nationwide bipartisan calls for ...

, Herring admitted to an incident in which he also wore blackface: Herring had previously called on Northam to resign after the discovery of Northam's yearbook page, saying, "It is no longer possible for Governor Northam to lead our Commonwealth, and it is time for him to step down." He later clarified that the discovery of the yearbook page was not the reason he called for Northam's resignation; he did so because Northam had initially admitted to appearing in the photo, but the following day, "came out with a different and contradictory account, and that was when there was an erosion of trust."

Healthcare case

As attorney general of the

Commonwealth of Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United Stat ...

, Mark Herring took the case for

Obamacare The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...

to the United States

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Advanced Towing case

On June 25, 2020, Herring filed a lawsuit against Advanced Towing Company, LLC, a towing and recovery operator based in Arlington, Virginia. The Complaint alleges that Advanced Towing has violated Virginia and Arlington County towing code provisions, resulting in towing conduct that is “frequently predatory, aggressive, overreaching and illegal.” Virginia State Senator Chap Peterson represented Advanced Towing in the case.

Personal life

Herring and his wife Laura live in

. They have two adult children, daughter Peyton and son Tim. His step-father was former state Senator Charlie Waddell.

Electoral history

Board of Supervisors

;1999

State Senate

;2003 ;2006 ;2007 ;2011

Attorney General

;2013 ;2017 Herring ran unopposed in the 2017 Democratic primary. ;2021

References

External links

Government website

Campaign website

Senator Mark Herring
at the Senate of Virginia (archived) *
Senator Mark Herring (D-Leesburg)
at Richmond Sunlight * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Herring, Mark 1961 births 21st-century American politicians American Presbyterians County supervisors in Virginia Living people People from Johnson City, Tennessee People from Leesburg, Virginia People from Lovettsville, Virginia University of Richmond School of Law alumni University of Virginia alumni Virginia Attorneys General Virginia lawyers Democratic Party Virginia state senators