Virginia House Democrats Oust Minority Leader

In a caucus meeting on Wednesday, the Virginia House Democrats voted to remove Del. Eileen Filler-Corn (D-41) as the Minority Leader of the Virginia House of Delegates.

Filler-Corn, who served as Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates from 2020 to 2022, has represented her district which encompasses part of Fairfax County since 2010.

The charge to unseat Filler-Corn was led by Del. Don Scott Jr. (D-80), who following her removal, has officially announced his candidacy to fill the now-vacant position of Minority Leader. At this time it is unclear whether anyone will choose to challenge Scott in the election, and it is unclear when the election will happen. Democratic delegates have failed to come to a consensus on when to hold an election for a new minority leader.

Scott initially sent a letter to the caucus a few days prior to the vote to provide reasonable notice of his intention to call for a recall vote. The vote was held by secret ballot, so it the margins are unknown and it cannot be confirmed how any individual delegate voted.

Filler-Corn took to Twitter after the closed-door meeting, sharing her gratitude for the time she spent leading the party.

“I thank the people of Virginia and my colleagues in the House of Delegates for allowing me to serve as the first woman and first person of Jewish faith to serve as Speaker in the 403-year history of our Commonwealth – truly the honor of my life,” she said. In another tweet adding, “I was proud of all that we accomplished after taking the majority in 2019 and was willing to step up as Minority Leader once more to regain that majority. Our caucus is made up of 48 talented and diverse individuals and I look forward to working with them to retake the majority.”

Since the Virginia House Democrats have not elected a new leader, the position is filled in the interim by Del. Charniele Herring (D-46). Herring is the current chair of the Democratic Caucus in the House of Delegates. The caucus also voted on whether or not to remove Herring from her position, but she ultimately prevailed in order to remain caucus chair.

There has been no official statement released by the caucus or the Democratic Party of Virginia.

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