Charniele Herring

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 was chosen the House Democratic Caucus Chair in 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, Herring became majority leader again when Scott was chosen as House Speaker after the 2023 elections.

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.

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.

Herring was the first African-American woman ever elected to represent Northern Virginia in the General Assembly.

Herring has a lengthy career advocating for criminal justice reforms in Virginia, and after serving on the Crime Commission for nine years, she was elected as the Chair of the committee in 2020. She has also been a strong proponent of regulating law enforcement use of automated license plate readers, passing legislation in 2025 to create a statewide framework to limit how law enforcement agencies can use the technology.

Electoral history Date Election Candidate Party Votes % Virginia House of Delegates, 46th district Jan 13, 2009 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 Nov 3, 2009 General Charniele L. Herring Democratic 8,778 63.98 Sasha Gong Republican 4,929 35.93 Write Ins 11 0.08 Nov 8, 2011 General Charniele L. Herring Democratic 7,664 95.19 Write Ins 378 4.80 Nov 5, 2013 General Charniele L. Herring Democratic 15,066 95.7 Write Ins 684 4.3 Nov 3, 2015 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 Nov 7, 2017 General Charniele L. Herring Democratic 18,947 96.4 Write Ins 706 3.6 Nov 5, 2019 General Charniele L. Herring Democratic 12,270 92 Write Ins 1,063 7.9 Nov 2, 2021 General Charniele L. Herring Democratic 20,445 92.2 Write Ins 1,740 7.8Nov 7, 2023GeneralCharniele L. Herring Democratic10,843 93.2