Lieutenant Governor of Virginia

	Virginia Lieutenant Governor
	; ; ;
	General information
Office Type:	Partisan
Office website:	Official Link
Compensation:	$36,321
2026 FY Budget:	$566,920
Term limits:	None
	Structure
Length of term:	4 years
Authority:	Virginia Constitution, Article V, Section 13
Selection Method:	Elected
	Current Officeholder(s)
	Lieutenant Governor of Virginia Winsome Earle-Sears; Republican Party; Assumed office: January 15, 2022
	Elections
Next election:	November 4, 2025
Last election:	November 2, 2021
	Other Virginia Executive Offices
	Governor • Lieutenant Governor • Secretary of State • Attorney General • Treasurer • Auditor • Superintendent of Education • Agriculture Commissioner • Insurance Commissioner • Natural Resources Commissioner • Labor Commissioner • Public Service Commission

The Lieutenant Governor of Virginia is an elected constitutional officer, the second ranking officer of the executive branch and the first officer in line to succeed the Governor of Virginia. The lieutenant governor is popularly elected every four years by a plurality and, unlike the governor, may run for re-election.

Current officeholder

See also: Current Lieutenant Governors

The current Lieutenant Governor of Virginia is Winsome Earle-Sears (R). Earle-Sears assumed office in 2022.

Authority

The Virginia Constitution addresses the office of the lieutenant governor Article V, the Executive.

Under Article V, Section 13:

A Lieutenant Governor shall be elected at the same time and for the same term as the Governor, and his qualifications and the manner and ascertainment of his election, in all respects, shall be the same, except that there shall be no limit on the terms of the Lieutenant Governor.

Qualifications

In order to be eligible for the office of lieutenant governor, a candidate must be:^[1]

a United States citizen
a resident and registered voter of Virginia for at least five years preceding the election
at least 30 years old

Elections

Virginia state government organizational chart

See also: Gubernatorial election cycles by state

See also: Election of lieutenant governors

Virginia holds off-year elections, that is, elections in odd-numbered years that are neither presidential nor midterm years. In Virginia's, elections are held in the year after a presidential election and before a midterm (e.g. 2021, 2025, 2029, 2033). Legally, the inauguration is always held on the Saturday after the second Wednesday in January after an election.^[2]^[3]

By law, lieutenant governors are elected in separate elections from governors in both the primary and general elections. This means it is possible to have a partisan split in the executive office.

In the event of a tie between two candidates or a contested election, a joint session of the legislature shall cast ballots.

2025

See also: Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2025

General election

General election for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia

Ghazala Hashmi, John Reid, and Marlow Jones are running in the general election for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia on November 4, 2025.

		Candidate
		Ghazala Hashmi (D)
		John Reid (R)
		Marlow Jones (Independent) (Write-in)

	There are no incumbents in this race.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia on June 17, 2025.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Ghazala Hashmi	27.5	136,717
	Levar Stoney	26.5	131,765
	Aaron Rouse	26.2	130,485
	Babur Lateef	8.5	42,099
	Alex Bastani	5.7	28,476
	Victor Salgado	5.6	27,593

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 497,135
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. John Reid advanced from the Republican primary for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

John Curran (R)
Pat Herrity (R)