Jason Miyares
Jason Miyares is an American politician and attorney who served as the 48th attorney general of Virginia from 2022 to 2026. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates for the 82nd district from 2016 to 2022.
Miyares was elected to be Virginia's attorney general in 2021, defeating Democratic incumbent Mark Herring. The son of a Cuban immigrant, he was the first Hispanic American elected statewide in Virginia as well as the first to serve as attorney general in the Commonwealth. He lost reelection to Democrat Jay Jones in 2025.
Early life and education
Miyares was born on February 11, 1976, in Greensboro, North Carolina. He attended public schools in Virginia Beach. His mother, Miriam Miyares, fled from Cuba in 1965. His brothers are Bryan Redding, a commercial cinematographer and the late Steven Marcus Miyares, a Virginia criminal defense attorney.Miyares graduated from James Madison University in 1998 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and from William & Mary Law School in 2005 with a Juris Doctor degree. He was Chairman of the Hampton Roads Young Republicans and a founding member of the Hampton Roads Federalist Society. He later served as an assistant commonwealth's attorney in Virginia Beach.
Career
Miyares worked on George Allen's 2000 Senate campaign. He was campaign manager and advisor to Republican Scott Rigell in the 2010 and 2012 congressional elections. Miyares worked as a prosecutor in the Virginia Beach Commonwealth's Attorney's Office. He was later a partner with the consulting firm Madison Strategies. He also worked at the Virginia Beach law firm Hanger Law until his election to the office of Attorney General.Virginia House of Delegates
In 2015, Miyares ran for the Virginia House of Delegates' seat being vacated by Bill DeSteph, who ran successfully for the Virginia State Senate. Unopposed in the June 2015 Republican primary, he defeated Democrat Bill Fleming in the November 2015 general election. He was the first Cuban American elected to the Virginia General Assembly. He was reelected in 2017 and 2019. He served on three committees: General Laws, Courts of Justice, and Transportation. Miyares also served on the Virginia Board of Veterans Services and as Chairman of the Commission on Equal Opportunity for Virginians in Aspiring and Diverse Communities. Miyares was the 2018 and 2019 "Legislator of the Year" by the College of Affordability and Public Trust and 2018 "Legislator of the Year" by the Hampton Roads Military Officers Association. In 2019, he received the "Action Award" by the Safe House Project.He endorsed Marco Rubio in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, and was Rubio's Virginia campaign co-chairman. In 2016, amid the Cuban thaw, Miyares criticized Governor Terry McAuliffe's outreach to Cuba. Miyares introduced a non-binding resolution in 2016 condemning the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
In November 2018, an amendment proposal from Miyares was placed into the Constitution of Virginia that allows spouses of veterans with disabilities who have died to receive a full property tax exemption on the home they live in if they choose to relocate. In August 2019, Miyares offered HB 4031, a red flag law bill. Miyares believes his "bill has a balance of due process and constitutional rights while keeping guns out of the hands of those who can be dangerous due to mental health." In October 2019, Miyares said he planned to reintroduce "legislation that would allow the state to work directly with the Army Corps of Engineers on large flooding mitigation projects."
Miyares authored two bills in 2019 that became law: one that allowed public colleges and universities to offer scholarships for students in foster care and another that required public colleges and universities to hold a public comment period at Board of Visitors meetings when tuition increases were proposed. In March 2020, Miyares opposed legislation to increase the minimum wage in Virginia. In August 2020, he offered HB 5037, a bill that would grant immunity, except in cases of willful misconduct or gross negligence, to public officials and businesses who followed public health measures to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. In September 2020, Miyares voted against legislation to authorize local governments to remove Confederate monuments on public property.
Miyares opposed the decision to abolish capital punishment in Virginia in February 2021.
Virginia Attorney General (2022–2026)
2021 Virginia Attorney General Election
In May 2021, Miyares was nominated as the Republican candidate for Virginia Attorney General. He ran against Mark Herring, the incumbent Democratic attorney general, who sought a third term in the November 2021 general election. Miyares was selected at the Virginia Republican Party's "unassembled" convention, in which party delegates cast ranked-choice ballots at polling sites across the state. Miyares defeated three other candidates: Leslie Haley, Chuck Smith, and Jack White. In the final round, Miyares defeated Smith, a hard-right candidate, by a closer-than-expected margin of 52% to 48%.During his campaign against Herring, Miyares emphasized crime issues. He opposed proposals for the elimination of qualified immunity and declined to take a position on what he would do in the police killing of Bijan Ghaisar. In the November 2021 election, Miyares defeated Herring in a tight race, becoming the first Hispanic and Cuban American to be elected Attorney General of Virginia.
2025 Virginia Attorney General Election
Incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares launched his re-election bid on X on November 18, 2024, after the 2024 Elections where he pledged to either officially run for Attorney General or Governor. Before his declination, Miyares was widely viewed as the main potential challenger to Earle-Sears in the 2025 Virginia gubernatorial election. He criticized Earle-Sears for her early gubernatorial announcement before the 2024 Elections. On April 5, 2025, Jason Miyares became the official Republican nominee for Attorney General after no other candidates filed their candidacies.Jason Miyares faced Democratic nominee Jay Jones in the general election after Jones won the Democratic primary on June 17, 2025. Miyares' re-election campaign emphasized crime reduction, prevention of overdose cases, and regulation on social media corporations. Miyares declined to make statements on federal layoffs and tariffs from the Trump Administration which were unpopular in the state — he noted CNBC's position of Virginia "as the top state for business" in 2024. Miyares endorsed Republican John Reid for Lieutenant Governor in the 2025 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election despite "sexually explicit posts" on Tumblr.
In August, the Republican Governors Association supported Miyares as the "party’s best hope for a win" and "the strongest Republican on the Virginia ballot in 2025." Earle-Sears' gubernatorial campaign at the top-of-the-ticket was criticized for the inability to competitively raise funds and lack of attention for her campaign. By late summer, many political pundits believed Earle-Sears' improved her campaign, which would enable Miyares to split the ticket and win his re-election. The RGA spent $2 million on Miyares' re-election bid, while Miyares outspent Jones nearly 2-1. He unexpectedly spent more money than Earle-Sears in the summer, where she only raised $4.5 million.
On October 2, Jay Jones was found speeding on Interstate 64 at 116 miles per hour in New Kent County in 2022 which would result in one year of jail time. His own attorney made Jones do community service: Jones was ordered to pay $1,500 in fines and 1,000 hours of community service. He spent 500 hours of community service on his own PAC which saw criticism from Miyares. On October 3, the National Review released Jones' text messages where he joked about the gun death of former Speaker of the House Todd Gilbert and his family. Former chief of staff to Miyares, DJ Jordan said, "This could be an October surprise that has some sway." Miyares — with his fundraising advantage — was backed with $3.5 million in ad buys which attacked Jones' text messages. Before the texts, Miyares moderately lagged behind Jay Jones. In the October Washington Post/Schar School poll, Jones lead by six points. On October 16, Virginia State University hosted one debate between Miyares and Jones. When Jones referenced President Trump, Miyares said, "There he goes again" while Miyares also touted his tough-on-crime positions, Jones' text messages, and anti-transgender positions. By the end of the campaign, Miyares held the lead in most of the polls. Miyares outspent Jones $27 million to $16 million with significant independent expenditures in favor of Miyares.
While Miyares won 46.45% of the vote, Jones defeated Miyares by 6.69% which was considered an unexpectedly large margin for Jones after his text messages. Despite Miyares' loss, he was the best-performing Republican of the 2025 Republican ticket for Virginia's three statewide executive offices.
Tenure
Abortion
In January 2022, Miyares withdrew the Virginia AG Office's brief to the Supreme Court, submitted under his predecessor, supporting a challenge to Mississippi's abortion ban of restricting abortion to 15 weeks.In May 2023, Miyares defended his decision to not join with 22 other Republican state attorneys general when they filed a lawsuit seeking to ban the abortion medication mifepristone, saying he supported the Food and Drug Administration's regulations.
Miyares supports a 15-week ban on abortion with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. He has stated that he opposes prosecuting people for seeking abortions.