Shannon Taylor (attorney)

Shannon Taylor
Commonwealth's Attorney for Henrico County
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 1, 2012
Preceded byWade Kizer
Personal details
Born (1967-11-17) November 17, 1967
PartyDemocratic
EducationUniversity of Virginia (BA)
University of Richmond (JD)
Websitehttps://shannontaylorva.com/

Shannon Leigh Taylor (born November 17, 1967) is an American attorney and prosecutor who has served as the Commonwealth's Attorney for Henrico County, Virginia since 2012. In 2011, she was elected Commonwealth's Attorney for Henrico County. She stood unsuccessfully in the June 2025 Democratic primary for Attorney General of Virginia.[1] She was subsequently reelected Commonwealth's Attorney in 2015, 2019, and 2023.

Taylor is the Democratic nominee for Virginia's 1st congressional district in the 2026 election.[2]

Education

Taylor is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Richmond School of Law.

Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney

Elections

On August 11, 2011, Taylor announced her candidacy for the 2011 Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney election with only 11 weeks to go before the election. The office was an open contest as the incumbent, Wade A. Kizer, announced that he would be suspending his candidacy for his fifth term. Her opponent was attorney Matthew Geary, who was a law school classmate and had been campaigning since 2009, and later Bill Janis, who announced his campaign days later.

Taylor won an upset victory over both, receiving 25,975 votes while Janis received 21,540 votes and Geary received 9,045 votes.[3] Some, including Taylor, attributed the win to the split Republican votes between Geary and Janis. Taylor is the first woman to hold the position in Henrico County.

Taylor planned to make the office more diverse and to create cooperation between the office and police. In 2015, Taylor announced that she would be running for a second term, remaining unopposed in the Democratic primary. She faced prosecutor Tony Pham, who won the Republican primary against Jeffrey Lee Everhart and Shannon Dillon. Pham took aim at Taylor's leadership but ultimately lost in the general election.[4]

Taylor ran for a third term in 2019, facing against Owen Inge Conway, a lawyer she fired when she initially took office.[5] Taylor won against Conway with 62.68% of the vote.

Taylor currently serves as President of the Virginia Association of Commonwealth's Attorneys.[6]

Appointment of special prosecutor

In 2013, Taylor released a statement that she had requested the judge to appoint a special prosecutor to the case involving Joe Morrissey and his sexual relationship with a minor.[7] Taylor thought that in order for the public to have complete confidence and trust in the proceedings, it was appropriate for decisions to be made by someone outside of Henrico County and that had no prior relationships with the individuals potentially involved.

In 2016, Morrissey exposed himself to a legal client.[8] Taylor began an investigation and later said that although Morrissey was "wrong and unethical" he would not be charged.[9]

Police integrity

In June 2020, Taylor announced that her office would add a new deputy for police integrity to review police use of force accusations, investigate and review body-worn camera footage, and help determine whether charges are appropriate.[10] She created it in response to the murder of George Floyd the previous month, and began looking for a deputy to fill the office. She appointed attorney Misty Whitehead, a Black Lives Matter supporter, to fill the position, but had funding pulled by County Manager John Vithoulkas after taking issue with private defense attorney Misty Whitehead's social media posts, which included comments about the Breonna Taylor case; questioning her ability – and objectivity – to serve in the role.[11]

Prosecution of Ku Klux Klan leader

On June 7, 2020, a man drove his truck into a crowd of peaceful protesters in Henrico.[12] The perpetrator was an admitted leader of the Ku Klux Klan. Taylor announced charges of assault, battery, attempted malicious wounding, and felony vandalism. He was found guilty and sentenced to six years in prison.[13]

Campaign for Attorney General

In 2020, there was speculation of whether Taylor would run for the 2021 Virginia Attorney General election. In December 2020, Taylor released a statement that she would not run for attorney general.[14] In January 2021, she announced that she would endorse Mark Herring, the incumbent attorney general.[15]

In 2024, Taylor announced her campaign for Virginia Attorney General. In April 2025, Taylor’s campaign reported over $1 million in donations.[16] The primary was won by Jay Jones.[17]

2026 United States House of Representatives campaign

In September 2025, Taylor announced her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives seat in Virginia's 1st congressional district in the 2026 midterm elections.[18] She had initially announced her campaign for Virginia's 5th congressional district which had been redrawn after a statewide referendum approved the 2026 Virginia redistricting amendment.[19] After the Supreme Court of Virginia struck down the amendment, Taylor switched her campaign to the 5th district.[18]

On August 4, 2026, Taylor won a majority in the Democratic primary against six other candiates making her the Democratic nominee against incumbent Rob Wittman.[2] She was endorsed in the primary by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Governor Abigail Spanberger and Virginia's senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine.[2]

Electoral history

2011 Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney election[20]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Shannon Taylor 25,975 45.85%
Independent Bill Janis 21,540 38.02%
Republican Matthew Geary 9,045 15.97%
2015 Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney election[21]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Shannon Taylor 35,020 56.10%
Republican Tony Pham 27,272 43.69%
2019 Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney election[22]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Shannon Taylor 65,296 62.68%
Republican Owen Conway 38,582 37.03%
2023 Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney election[23]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Shannon Taylor 66,928 61.72%
Republican Shannon L. Dillon 41,119 37.92%
2025 Virginia Attorney General Democratic primary[24]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Jay Jones 252,976 51.11%
Democratic Shannon Taylor 241,969 48.89%
Total votes 494,945 100.00%
2026 United States House of Representatives VA-01 Democratic Primary [25]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Shannon Taylor 24,912 53.1
Democratic Salaam Bhatti 9,223 19.7
Democratic Jason Knapp 4,695 10.0
Democratic Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs 3,351 7.1
Democratic Mel Tull 2,016 4.3
Democratic Tim Cywinski 1,402 3.0
Democratic Ericka Kopp 1,307 2.8
Total votes 46,906 100.0

References

  1. ↑ "Shannon Taylor - Democrat for Attorney General of Virginia". January 7, 2024. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 "Shannon Taylor wins Democratic primary in Virginia district Democrats hope to make competitive". CBS News. August 4, 2026. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  3. ↑ "In upset, Taylor wins Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney race". nbc12.com. November 9, 2011. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  4. ↑ Strong, Ted. "Taylor fends off Pham to win second term as Henrico prosecutor". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  5. ↑ Rockett, Ali. "Henrico's top prosecutor faces challenge from attorney she fired when taking office". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Council and Board Members". Virginia Association. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  7. ↑ Maclauchlan, Shawn (November 20, 2013). "Henrico Commonwealth Attorney releases statement in Morrissey case". nbc12.com. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Morrissey's campaign continues as he demands RTD retraction". WRIC ABC 8News. October 29, 2016. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  9. ↑ "Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney on Morrissey: 'Unethical' but no charges". WRIC ABC 8News. November 4, 2016. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney to add new deputy for police integrity". The Henrico Citizen. June 29, 2020. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Henrico County Manager rescinds funding for police oversight role, questions objectivity of CA's pick". wric.com. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Ku Klux Klan leader drove truck into crowd of peaceful protesters, Virginia officials say". NBC News. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  13. ↑ Waller, Allyson (August 11, 2020). "Virginia Man, Said to Be a Klan Leader, Gets 6 Years in Prison After Driving Into a Protest". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  14. ↑ Eason, Hannah (December 7, 2020). "Henrico commonwealth's attorney announces she will not run for attorney general". nbc12.com. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  15. ↑ "Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney Taylor endorses Herring". The Henrico Citizen. January 18, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  16. ↑ vascope (April 5, 2025). "Shannon Taylor announces Q1 fundraising haul". Virginia Scope. Retrieved June 9, 2025.
  17. ↑ "Virginia Attorney General Primary Election Results". The New York Times. June 17, 2025. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  18. 1 2 Schneider, Gregory (September 8, 2025). "Henrico prosecutor joins Democrats aiming to unseat Wittman in Congress". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 3, 2026.
  19. ↑ lowkell (February 6, 2026). "Current VA01 Democratic Candidate Shannon Taylor Announces Intention to Run for Redistricted VA05 "upon passage of new maps"". BlueVirginia. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  20. ↑ "Henrico County Commonwealths Attorney". The Virginia Public Access Project.
  21. ↑ "Henrico County Commonwealths Attorney". The Virginia Public Access Project.
  22. ↑ "Henrico County Commonwealths Attorney". The Virginia Public Access Project.
  23. ↑ "Henrico County Commonwealths Attorney". The Virginia Public Access Project.
  24. ↑ "2025 June Democratic Primary". Virginia Department of Elections. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
  25. ↑ "Virginia | 2026 August Democratic Primary". Virginia Department of Elections. August 4, 2026. Retrieved August 5, 2026.
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