List of speakers of the Virginia House of Delegates

This is a complete list of the speakers of the Virginia House of Delegates. Elected by the members of the House, the Speaker is the presiding officer of that body. In addition to duties as chair, the adopted rules of the House of Delegates specify other powers and duties of the post. The Speaker is currently elected for a two-year term in the odd-numbered years in which the Legislature convenes.

Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates
Great Seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia
Incumbent Don Scott since January 10, 2024
Virginia House of Delegates
Style	The Honorable
Residence	Virginia General Assembly
Appointer	Elected by the Virginia House of Delegates
Inaugural holder	Edmund Pendleton

List of speakers

Parties

  No party   Democratic   Republican   Democratic-Republican   Whig   Re-adjuster   Conservative

#	Name		County or city	Term began	Term ended	Party
1		Edmund Pendleton	Caroline County	1776	1776		None
2		George Wythe	Williamsburg	1777	1778		None
3		Benjamin Harrison V	Charles City County	1778	1781		None
4		Richard Henry Lee	Westmoreland County	1781	1781		None
3		Benjamin Harrison V	Charles City County	1781	1781		None
5		John Tyler Sr.	Charles City County	1781	1785		None
3		Benjamin Harrison V	Charles City County	1785	1786		None
6		Joseph Prentis	Williamsburg	1786	1788		None
7		Thomas Mathews	Norfolk County	1788	1794		None
8		John Wise	Accomack County	1794	1799		None
9		Larkin Smith	King and Queen County	1799	1802		None
10		Edmund Harrison	Amelia County	1802	1803		None
11		Hugh Holmes	Frederick County	1803	1805		None
12		Peter Johnston Jr.	Prince Edward County	1805	1807		None
13		Hugh Nelson	Albemarle County	1807	1809		Democratic-Republican
14		James Barbour	Orange County	1809	1812		Democratic-Republican
15		Andrew Stevenson	Albemarle County	1812	1816		Democratic-Republican
16		Robert Stanard	Spotsylvania County	1816	1817		None
17		Linn Banks	Madison County	1817	1838		Democratic
18		Thomas W. Gilmer	Albemarle County	1839	1840		Whig
19		Valentine W. Southall	Albemarle County	1840	1842		None
20		Joel Holleman	Isle of Wight County	1842	1844		Democratic
21		William O. Goode	Mecklenburg County	1845	1846		Democratic
22		John W. Jones	Chesterfield County	1847	1847		Democratic
23		James F. Strother	Rappahannock County	1847	1848		Whig
24		Henry L. Hopkins	Powhatan County	1848	1850		Democratic
25		George W. Hopkins	Washington County	1850	1852		None
26		Oscar M. Crutchfield	Spotsylvania County	1852	1861		None
27		James L. Kemper	Madison County	1861	1863		Democratic
28		Hugh W. Sheffey	Augusta County	1863	1865		None
29		John B. Baldwin	Augusta County	1865	1869		Conservative
30		Zephaniah Turner Jr.	Rappahannock County	1869	1871		Democratic
31		J. Marshall Hanger	Augusta County	1871	1877		Democratic
32		Henry C. Allen	Shenandoah County	1877	1879		Democratic
33		Benjamin W. Lacy	New Kent County	1879	1881		Democratic
34		Isaac C. Fowler	Washington County	1881	1882		Readjuster
35		Charles E. Stuart	Alexandria	1883	1887		Democratic
36		Richard H. Cardwell	Hanover County	1887	1894		Democratic
37		John F. Ryan	Loudoun County	1894	1899		Democratic
38		Edward W. Saunders	Franklin County	1899	1901		Democratic
37		John F. Ryan	Loudoun County	1901	1906		Democratic
39		William D. Cardwell	Hanover County	1906	1908		Democratic
40		Richard E. Byrd	Winchester	1908	1914		Democratic
41		Edwin P. Cox	Richmond	1914	1916		Democratic
42		Harry R. Houston	Elizabeth City County	1916	1920		Democratic
43		Richard L. Brewer Jr.	Suffolk	1920	1926		Democratic
44		Thomas W. Ozlin	Lunenburg County	1926	1930		Democratic
45		J. Sinclair Brown	Roanoke County	1930	1936		Democratic
46		G. Aston Dovell	Williamsburg	1936	1942		Democratic
47		Thomas B. Stanley	Henry County	1942	1946		Democratic
48		G. Alvin Massenburg	Hampton	1947	1950		Democratic
49		E. Blackburn Moore	Frederick County	1950	1968		Democratic
50		John Warren Cooke	Mathews County	1968	1980		Democratic
51		Albert L. Philpott	Henry County	1980	1991		Democratic
52		Tom Moss	Norfolk	1991	2000		Democratic
53		S. Vance Wilkins Jr.	Amherst County	2000	2002		Republican
54		William J. Howell	Stafford County	2003	2018		Republican
55		Kirk Cox	Colonial Heights	2018	2020		Republican
56		Eileen Filler-Corn	Fairfax County	2020	2022		Democratic
57		Todd Gilbert	Shenandoah County	2022	2024		Republican
58		Don Scott	Portsmouth	2024	Incumbent		Democratic

Acting Speaker

According to Rules 2 and 16 of the House of Delegates, the chair of the Committee on Privileges and Elections serves as Acting Speaker when there is a vacancy in the Speaker's office. This has occurred twice since 1990:

• Ford C. Quillen of Scott County was Acting Speaker from the death of A. L. Philpott on September 28, 1991, until the House met in a special redistricting session in November, when Thomas W. Moss Jr. was elected Speaker.
• Lacey E. Putney of Bedford was Acting Speaker from the resignation of S. Vance Wilkins Jr. on June 15, 2002, until the House met in regular session in January 2003, when William J. Howell was elected Speaker.

List of speakers by time in office (incomplete)

Rank	Name	Time in office	TE	Year(s) in which elected
1	Linn Banks	20 years, 148 days	11	1817; 1819; 1821; 1823; 1825; 1827; 1829; 1831; 1833; 1835; 1837
2	E. Blackburn Moore	17 years, 364 days	9	1950; 1952; 1954; 1956; 1958; 1960; 1962; 1964; 1966
3	William J. Howell	15 years, 2 days	8	2003; 2004; 2006; 2008; 2010; 2012; 2014; 2016
4	John Warren Cooke	11 years, 364 days	6	1968; 1970; 1972; 1974; 1976; 1978
5	A. L. Philpott	11 years, 262 days	6	1980; 1982; 1984; 1986; 1988; 1990
6	John F. Ryan	9 years, 315 days	5	1894; 1895; 1897; 1901; 1904
7	Oscar M. Crutchfield	9 years, 123 days	5	1852; 1853; 1855; 1857; 1859
8	Thomas W. Moss Jr.	8 years, 54 days	5	1991; 1992; 1994; 1996; 1998
9	Richard H. Cardwell	6 years, 85 days	4	1887; 1889; 1891; 1893
10 (tie)	Richard E. Byrd Sr.	6 years, 6 days	3	1908; 1910; 1912
	Ashton Dovell		3	1936; 1938; 1940
11	J. Sinclair Brown	6 years	3	1930; 1932; 1934
12 (tie)	J. Marshall Hanger	5 years, 364 days	3	1871; 1873; 1875
	Richard L. Brewer Jr.		3	1920; 1922; 1924
13	Thomas B. Stanley	4 years, 295 days	3	1942; 1944; 1946
14	Charles E. Stuart	4 years, 3 days	2	1883; 1885
15	Harry R. Houston	4 years, 2 days	2	1916; 1918
16	Thomas W. Ozlin	3 years, 360 days	2	1926; 1928
17	John Brown Baldwin	3 years, 305 days	1	1865
18	G. Alvin Massenburg	3 years, 5 days	2	1947; 1948
19	Hugh W. Sheffey	2 years, 324 days	2	1863; 1863
20	Vance Wilkins	2 years, 154 days	2	2000; 2002
21	Zephaniah Turner Jr.	2 years, 62 days	1	1869
22	Eileen Filler-Corn	2 years, 3 days	1	2019
23 (tie)	Henry Clay Allen	1 year, 363 days	1	1877
	Isaac C. Fowler		1	1881
	Edward W. Saunders		1	1899
	William D. Cardwell		1	1906
	Edwin P. Cox		1	1914
	Kirk Cox		1	2018
	Todd Gilbert		1	2021
24	James L. Kemper	1 year, 43 days	1	1861
25	Donald L. Scott	317 days	1	2023
26	Benjamin W. Lacy	97 days	1	1879

See also

• List of speakers of the Virginia House of Burgesses
• Category:Speakers of the Virginia House of Delegates
• List of Virginia state legislatures

References

• Jamerson, Bruce F. (Fall 2002). "Interpreting the Rules: Speaker's Resignation Challenges; Virginia House of Delegates" (PDF). Journal of the American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
• Jamerson, Bruce F., Clerk of the House of Delegates, supervising (2007). Speakers and Clerks of the Virginia House of Delegates, 1776-2007. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia House of Delegates.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)