RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — State Senator Mark Peake (R-Lynchburg) has introduced a proposed constitutional amendment to establish term limits for the attorney general and lieutenant governor of Virginia.
“You don’t want somebody making a lifetime career out of being attorney general or lieutenant governor,” Peake told 8News.
Currently, Virginia allows both the lieutenant governor and attorney general to seek as many terms in office as they would like. Plus, unlike the governor, they are allowed to serve consecutive terms.
Peake says ever since Attorney General Mark Herring sought a third term in 2021, term limits have been on his mind.
“Finally went back and looked it up, nobody’s done that since the end of the Byrd machine era,” Peake explained. “So, in my lifetime, nobody has done it for the [attorney general] or [lieutenant governor’s] spot.
Given his interest in term limits, 8News asked Peake if he would support the same rules for the governor, potentially allowing them to serve two consecutive terms in office.
“We have a powerful governor,” Peake said. “There would need to be a reworking of the legislative power, with the governor’s office and the Senate and the House, and nobody has taken the time to work out how that needs to be changed and I have not and I’m not going to.”
For an amendment to become part of the Virginia Constitution, it must be approved twice by the General Assembly (with the second time being after a House of Delegates election), and then approved by voters through a referendum. That means the earliest this measure could become part of the constitution is in 2026.
