Mark Herring says he’s running for reelection as Virginia’s attorney general

Mark Herring issued this statement regarding the 2017 statewide election in Virginia. 

“Serving as Attorney General has been the highest honor of my career. I love practicing law, I love public policy, and most of all, I love helping people. This job asks me to do all three every single day.

“Over the last 20 months, our Commonwealth has made historic progress that has changed lives for the better. We have shown an increasingly diverse and dynamic Commonwealth a new vision for this job, how it intersects with Virginians lives, and what can be accomplished when the attorney general prioritizes the law and the people he serves.

“We successfully fought in the courts for marriage equality and made college more affordable for DREAMers. We led the Governor’s task force to help Virginia become a national leader on reducing campus sexual violence. We led 22 states in the fight to successfully defend affordable healthcare from yet another cynical, political attack at the Supreme Court. We corrected erroneous legal advice that threatened to shut down clinics and restrict women’s access to healthcare services.

“We responded on multiple fronts to the growing crises of heroin and prescription drug abuse, putting drug traffickers behind bars and working with Republicans on a strong, bipartisan legislative response to help save lives. We’ve enhanced our efforts to put away predators who try to exploit children online, kept dangerous criminals behind bars, and provided critical training to help law enforcement dismantle gangs, prevent and respond to domestic violence, and to help young people stay on the right side of the law.

“We brought the services of the office into communities across Virginia with our first-ever regional outreach coordinators, and hired the Commonwealth’s first local jail re-entry coordinator to help ex-offenders turn their lives around. When the Commonwealth was on the verge of shutting down innovative ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft, and when Sweet Briar College stood on the edge of collapse, we showed that creativity, collaboration, and communication can still solve difficult problems.

“We took on out-of-state special interests that were attacking our Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan and we won. We helped end a decades-long dispute that finally got tens of millions of dollars in natural gas royalties to Southwest Virginia landowners. We have stood up for Virginia consumers by fighting for lower electric bills and utility rates. We have recovered millions of dollars lost to illegal business practices, and are seeking to hold big Wall Street banks accountable for damaging our state pensions. And we are working to restore the public trust by enacting the Office’s first ethics policy and a strict gift ban.

“These milestones would not have been reached without the right team exercising the powers and responsibilities of the Office of Attorney General. That means this hard-won progress is as fragile as the next election.

“Our future progress as a Commonwealth requires an attorney general who is fiercely and fearlessly committed to promoting justice, equality, and opportunity for all Virginians.

“For that reason, I plan to run for re-election as Attorney General.”