Ramin Fatehi

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Ramin Fatehi
Image of Ramin Fatehi

Democratic Party

Candidate, Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney

Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney
Tenure

2022 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

3

Predecessor
Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 2, 2021

Next election

November 4, 2025

Education

High school

Norfolk Academy

Bachelor's

Yale University, 2000

Law

Columbia University School of Law, 2003

Personal
Birthplace
Suffolk, Va.
Profession
Prosecutor
Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

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Personal Facebook

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Ramin Fatehi (Democratic Party) is the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney in Virginia. He assumed office on January 1, 2022. His current term ends on January 1, 2026.

Fatehi (Democratic Party) is running for re-election for Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney in Virginia. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025. He advanced from the Democratic primary on June 17, 2025.

Fatehi completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Ramin Fatehi was born in Suffolk, Virginia. He earned a high school diploma from Norfolk Academy, a bachelor's degree from Yale University in 2000, and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law in 2003. Fatehi's professional experience includes being the deputy commonwealth's attorney for the city of Norfolk, the assistant commonwealth's attorney for the city of Norfolk, a special assistant United States attorney, the assistant commonwealth's attorney for the city of Chesapeake, an assistant public defender, an associate with Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and a law clerk for the Hon. Elizabeth B. Lacey on the Virginia Supreme Court. He has been affiliated with the Norfolk Branch NAACP, the Iranian-American Bar Association, the Norfolk and Portsmouth Bar Association, the James Kent American Inn of Court, and Virginia Progressive Prosecutors for Justice.[1][2]

Elections

2025

See also: City elections in Norfolk, Virginia (2025)

General election

General election for Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney

Incumbent Ramin Fatehi is running in the general election for Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney on November 4, 2025.

Candidate
Image of Ramin Fatehi
Ramin Fatehi (D) Candidate Connection

Incumbents are bolded and underlined.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney

Incumbent Ramin Fatehi defeated John Butler in the Democratic primary for Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney on June 17, 2025.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Ramin Fatehi
Ramin Fatehi Candidate Connection
 
52.3
 
9,756
Image of John Butler
John Butler
 
47.7
 
8,902

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 18,658
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Fatehi received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.

2021

See also: City elections in Norfolk, Virginia (2021)

General election

General election for Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney

Ramin Fatehi won election in the general election for Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney on November 2, 2021.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Ramin Fatehi
Ramin Fatehi (D) Candidate Connection
 
95.8
 
48,593
 Other/Write-in votes
 
4.2
 
2,140

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 50,733
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney

Ramin Fatehi defeated Megan Zwisohn and Amina Matheny-Willard in the Democratic primary for Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney on June 8, 2021.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Ramin Fatehi
Ramin Fatehi Candidate Connection
 
60.8
 
9,130
Image of Megan Zwisohn
Megan Zwisohn Candidate Connection
 
21.4
 
3,214
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Amina Matheny-Willard
 
17.8
 
2,677

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 15,021
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

To view Fatehi's endorsements in the 2021 election, please click here.

Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Ramin Fatehi completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Fatehi's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Since my election in 2021, I have had the privilege of serving as the Commonwealth's Attorney for the City of Norfolk. I am a progressive prosecutor who believes in public safety and civil rights through criminal justice reform.
  • Since I took office, homicides in Norfolk have fallen 42%, violent crime has fallen 40%, property crime has fallen 27%, and the jail population is half of what it was ten years ago. During my term in office I have focused our resources on holding accountable the people who commit violent crimes while offering diversion, alternatives, and treatment to the vast majority of people who have made mistakes but deserve rehabilitation.
  • I am proud to have the endorsement of Congressman Bobby Scott, Virginia House Speaker Don Scott, former Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, former Delegate Algie Howell, former City Councilors Paul Riddick and Andy Protogyrou, and former School Board Members Rodney Jordan and Yvonne Wagner.
  • I recognize that we do not have to choose public safety or civil rights. Those values are complementary. We deserve one system of justice for the rich and poor, Black and white, connected and friendless, not two. Donald Trump is offering favors to his cronies while dismantling the social safety net, creating an environment where we will all be less safe. I have pledged not to prosecute women or their doctors for an abortion legal under Roe, to protect all people, including members of the LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities, and to stand up for our values in the face of authoritarian moves from Washington.
Criminal justice reform, affordable housing, early-childhood nutrition and education, school equity, healthcare, and reproductive rights.
The Collected Works of William Shakespeare. Shakespeare was one of the most empathetic writers in the English language. He created characters of all ages and from all walks of life who, as I age, are completely authentic.

Shakespeare was subversive. Unlike his contemporaries, he made his villains into anti-heroes, showing his audience the circumstances that made them "evil" and leading his audience right up to the edge of what they would accept from these characters. By pushing but not breaking boundaries, he encouraged his audiences to be empathetic, too.

As a prosecutor, I have to see the world through the eyes of very different people: victims, the accused, witnesses, law-enforcement officers, judges, and jurors. In court, I have to present a narrative that makes sense to a jury. Shakespeare reminds me that we do that by showing that people, even if they are different, are capable of understanding others.
Previous experience as a Virginia criminal lawyer. I am the only candidate in this race who has experience prosecuting in the Virginia courts, having done so for nearly my whole career. In addition, I have previous experience as a public defender and as a federal prosecutor. I have seen all sides of the courtroom and understand both how to be empathetic and how to be effective.
Congressman Bobby Scott

Virginia House Speaker Don Scott
Former Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring
Former Delegate Algie Howell
Former City Councilor Paul Riddick
Former City Councilor Andy Protogyrou
Former School Board Member Rodney Jordan
Former School Board Member Yvonne Wagner

Working Families Party
New Virginia Majority

Way to Lead

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2021

Candidate Connection

Ramin Fatehi completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Fatehi's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Ramin Fatehi, a Hampton Roads native, has served as a Virginia Supreme Court law clerk, as a public defender, and since 2006 as state and federal prosecutor, the last eight years right here in in the Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. Ramin is a graduate of Norfolk Academy, Yale, and Columbia Law School.

Ramin is a Proud Democrat and Norfolk’s champion for criminal justice reform. Ramin has led the charge in Norfolk to decriminalize and legalize marijuana possession, to abolish cash bail, to abolish the jury trial penalty, and to make the justice system honor the principle that Black Lives Matter.

Ramin has been an effective courtroom lawyer and an equally effective voice in Richmond for fair and sensible reforms to Virginia's criminal laws, from marijuana legalization to abolition of the death penalty. Ramin will continue to lobby in Richmond for sensible criminal justice reforms.

Ramin has worked every day for a safer and more just Norfolk by treating accused people fairly, victims with compassion, and the community with the commitment to its values.

Ramin is ready to take the torch from Commonwealth’s Attorney Greg Underwood and to lead one of the largest and busiest Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Offices in Virginia.

The Commonwealth’s Attorney is the only part of the criminal justice system directly accountable to the people: directly accountable to you.

Ramin asks you for your support and your vote in the Democratic Primary on June 8, 2021.
  • Ramin will work to ensure that there is one system of justice for all people, not system for the wealthy and connected and another for everyone else.
  • Ramin will work to ensure that all people are held accountable for their actions and that no one is above the law.
  • Ramin will work to end mass incarceration and shut down the school to prison pipeline.
Ramin is passionate about:

1. Protecting the right to vote through the repeal of the racist felon-disenfranchisement clause in the Virginia Constitution.
2. The reclassification of drug possession as a misdemeanor.
3. A fundamental restructuring of the 40 prosecutors and 45 staff in Norfolk to create a system of community-centered prosecution.
4. A commitment to diversity in the hiring and retention of lawyers and staff.
5. The creation of a conviction-integrity unit to examine Norfolk convictions and ensure that they were fair and just.

6. Diverting resources from the prosecution of low-level offenses, nonviolent drug offenses, and the prosecution of children to focus resources instead on illegal gun possession and violent crime.
The Commonwealth's Attorney is the only part of the criminal justice system directly accountable to voters. Since voters cannot vote for the police or for judges, this election is the only one in which they have a direct voice in how justice is served.
Prosecutors in Virginia have fewer powers than prosecutors in other places. Contrary to popular belief, prosecutors have no command authority over the police, and police have no command authority over prosecutors, which means that prosecutors do not have the power to change police policy directly. Prosecutors in Virginia also do not have control over initial charging decisions. Those decisions belong to independent officials known as magistrates.

Prosecutors have broad power, however, to act totally independently of other parts of government and to serve as watchdogs for justice and accountability, both for accused people and for the system itself.
Norfolk's Commonwealth's Attorney's Office has 40 lawyers and 45 staff, making it one of the largest and busiest offices in Virginia. it is very important that the Commonwealth's Attorney be familiar with the workings of the office in order to serve Norfolk effectively.
The Commonwealth's Attorney serves justice, and so it is important that the Commonwealth's Attorney have experience as a state prosecutor, a federal prosecutor, and a defense lawyer. That range of experience allows for a deeper appreciation for fairness, safety, and equity.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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External links

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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 2, 2021
    2. ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 20, 2025
    Political offices
    Preceded by
    Greg Underwood (D)     		Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney
    2022 - Present     		Succeeded by
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