THE INDEPENDENT NEWS
VIRGINIA BEACH — Jason Miyares, an attorney and state lawmaker from Virginia Beach, is the Republican Party nominee to be Virginia’s attorney general.
The state party on Monday, May 10, announced Miyares had won the party’s nominating process following voting by delegates. The announcement was followed by the news that Glenn Youngkin, a businessperson and political newcomer, won the nomination to be governor and former state Del. Winsome Sears, who was the first Black Republican woman elected to the House of Delegates, won the nomination for lieutenant governor.
In a statement released by his campaign on social media, Miyares on Monday, May 10, said he was grateful for the support of voters in the Republican convention process, which involved ranked choice voting and rounds of vote counting following the voting by convention delegates on Saturday, May 8.
“Now the movement continues to restore integrity to the office of the Attorney General by replacing Mark Herring with a leader who will focus on keeping violent criminals behind bars, supporting our law enforcement officers and keeping our neighborhoods safe,” Miyares said in the statement released by his campaign.
Herring, a Democrat, is seeking reelection, though he faces a primary challenge from state Del. Jerrauld “Jay” Jones, D-89th District.
Herring became the first Democrat to be elected as attorney general in two decades when he first won office – in an extremely narrow win over Mark Obenshain of the GOP – in 2013. He earned more than 53 percent of the vote in his 2017 reelection bid, defeating John Adams.
“As attorney general,” Miyares said in his statement, “I will use my experience as a prosecutor to keep violent criminals off our streets, enforce our law fairly and impartially and defend the constitution of Virginia and the United States.”
Miyares, whose family had fled from Cuba in the 1960s, became the first Cuban American elected to the Virginia General Assembly in 2015 when he won office in the 82nd House District. The district covers parts of Virginia Beach, including the the Oceanfront. He previously served as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Virginia Beach.
The state Republican party announced that Youngkin won the gubernatorial nomination over six other candidates. Youngkin, formerly the chief executive officer of The Carlyle Group, grew up in Richmond and Virginia Beach. He has never sought public office before.
“Virginians have made it clear that they are ready for a political outsider with proven business experience to bring real change in Richmond,” Youngkin said in a statement released on Monday, May 10.
The party then announced Sears’ victory after the conclusion of vote counting for that contest.
On Tuesday, May 11, after her victory had been secured, she released a statement that read, in part:
“I am utterly overwhelmed by your votes of confidence. From the time my family arrived in America from Jamaica, we have realized and appreciated the opportunity that the U.S. provided us. However, we never could have imagined that would include the possibility of being the second-in-command of our great commonwealth.”
“If Republicans are going to win in November, we must unite behind our nominees,” Rich Anderson, chairperson of the state GOP, said in a statement. “We have the momentum, energy and grassroots organization to send good, solid Republicans to Richmond – and we’re going to fight harder than ever to ensure we do just that.”
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