2021 Virginia Attorney General election


The 2021 Virginia Attorney General election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the next attorney general of Virginia. Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring attempted to win a third term. Herring initially planned to run for governor, but decided to run for re-election. Herring faced Republican nominee Jason Miyares in the general election. Herring conceded defeat at 5:02 PM EST the following day, November 3. Miyares became the first Cuban-American and Hispanic to be elected to statewide office in Virginia. Miyares was later sworn in on January 15, 2022.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Declined

Debates

Mark Herring and Jay Jones agreed to one debate. The debate started off with Mark Herring talking about his record and saying what he has done about certain cases vs what Jones was doing at the time. Jay Jones started off talking about his endorsement from Governor at the time, Ralph Northam, and claiming Herring's past didn't matter for what was happening in the present.
Herring and Jones agreed on almost every issue asked to them. When the rebuttals came though, Herring would often claim that Jones didn't support something when he was on the legislature and Jones would point to an example where they agreed on it in the past. When Jones rebutted Herring, Jones claimed that Herring didn't begin on the issue until it was in the political atmosphere.

Republican convention

Candidates

Nominated at convention

Defeated at convention

Declined

General election

Debates

Mark Herring and Jason Miyares agreed to one town hall-style debate.

Polling

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Mark
Herring 		Jason
Miyares 		OtherUndecided
The Trafalgar Group October 29–31, 20211,081 ± 3.0%47%50%1%2%
Echelon Insights October 27–29, 2021611 ± 4.0%47%48%–5%
Roanoke CollegeOctober 14–28, 2021571 ± 4.7%46%45%0%9%
The Washington Post/Schar SchoolOctober 20–26, 20211,107 ± 3.5%48%43%3%6%
The Washington Post/Schar SchoolOctober 20–26, 2021918 ± 4.0%50%44%1%4%
Christopher Newport UniversityOctober 17–25, 2021944 ± 3.5%48%47%–5%
Suffolk UniversityOctober 21–24, 2021500 ± 4.4%48%45%–7%
Emerson CollegeOctober 22–23, 2021875 ± 3.2%47%44%1%7%
co/efficient October 20–21, 2021785 ± 3.5%45%46%–8%
Cygnal October 19–21, 2021816 ± 3.4%48%47%–6%
Virginia Commonwealth UniversityOctober 9–21, 2021722 ± 6.4%39%35%14%12%
Christopher Newport UniversitySeptember 27 – October 6, 2021802 ± 4.2%49%43%–7%
Emerson CollegeOctober 1–3, 2021620 ± 3.9%46%44%1%10%
Roanoke CollegeSeptember 12–26, 2021603 ± 4.6%47%37%0%16%
KAConsulting LLC September 17–19, 2021700 ± 3.7%43%27%1%30%
Virginia Commonwealth UniversitySeptember 7–15, 2021731 ± 6.9%39%33%14%14%
Emerson CollegeSeptember 13–14, 2021778 ± 3.4%47%41%2%11%
University of Mary WashingtonSeptember 7–13, 20211,000 ± 3.1%40%37%6%17%
University of Mary WashingtonSeptember 7–13, 2021528 ± 4.1%42%46%2%10%
The Trafalgar Group August 26–29, 20211,068 ± 3.0%43%45%–13%
Monmouth UniversityAugust 24–29, 2021802 ± 3.5%45%43%1%11%
Christopher Newport UniversityAugust 15–23, 2021800 ± 3.6%53%41%0%6%
Roanoke CollegeAugust 3–17, 2021558 ± 4.2%45%37%1%17%
Virginia Commonwealth UniversityAugust 4–15, 2021770 ± 5.4%40%30%20%10%
Virginia Commonwealth UniversityAugust 4–15, 2021~747 ± 5.5%41%30%19%10%
JMC Analytics and Polling June 9–12, 2021550 ± 4.2%45%38%–17%

Results

Hopewell and Surry County voted for Herring and Republican Glenn Youngkin for governor.

By county and city

Independent cities have been italicized.
Counties and independent cities that flipped from Democratic to Republican

By congressional district

Miyares won six of 11 congressional districts, including two that were represented by Democrats.
DistrictHerringMiyaresRepresentative
41%59%Rob Wittman
46%54%Elaine Luria
63%37%Bobby Scott
57%43%Donald McEachin
41%59%Bob Good
34%65%Ben Cline
45%55%Abigail Spanberger
73%27%Don Beyer
26%74%Morgan Griffith
53%47%Jennifer Wexton
68%32%Gerry Connolly