Legislature convenes, short one delegate

The General Assembly at this hour kicks off the 46-day legislative session, but with only 99 members of the House of Delegates.

One seat is unresolved because the Republican candidate in a special election Tuesday for a House seat in Alexandria is seeking a recount.

Democrat Charniele Herring defeated Republican Joe R. Murray by 16 votes in the election to succeed former Del. Brian J. Moran, who gave up his seat in the legislature to run for governor full time.

Meantime, House Democrats are completing their leadership line-up today, choosing a successor to Moran in that capacity.

Del. Kenneth Plum, D-Fairfax, was selected this morning as chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

Plum, a former state Democratic chairman, defeated Del. Kristen J. Amundson, D-Fairfax. It took four votes to choose a chair. The first three — held yesterday — were ties, 21-21.

Amundson and Del. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, were named vice chairs of the 45-member Democratic caucus.

Plum will be second in command to House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong, D-Henry.

The leadership shuffle comes in the run-up to this fall’s elections for governor and House of Delegates, the last redoubt of Republican power on Capitol Square.

Democrats need six seats to take back the 100-member House. They returned to power in the 40-member Virginia Senate last year, but by the narrowest margin: one seat.

Moran is one of three candidates in the June Democratic primary that is open to all voters. The others are state Sen. Creigh Deeds of Bath and former national Democratic chairman Terry McAuliffe of McLean.

In the Alexandria special election, the State Board of Elections today certified Herring as the winner. The official vote total gave Herring 1,344 votes to Murray’s 1,328 in the low-turnout contest.

The margin of less than one-half of one percent entitled Murray to a state-paid recount. Murray sought the recount, said Paul Nardo, aide to Speaker of the House William J. Howell.

Two new delegates are being sworn in today. Democrat Delores McQuinn, a former member of the Richmond City Council, won a special election to succeed new Richmond Mayor Dwight Clinton Jones in a district that represents part of Richmond and parts of Henrico and Chesterfield counties.

Republican Barry D. Knight won the right to succeed former Del. Terrie L. Suit to represent parts of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. Suit gave up her House seat to become a lobbyist.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine presents his State of the Commonwealth Address to a joint session in the House chamber at 7 p.m.

Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or .