Republican Jason S. Miyares holds narrow lead in Va. race for attorney general

Republican Del. Jason S. Miyares was holding a narrow lead over Democratic incumbent Mark R. Herring in the race for Virginia attorney general as election officials Wednesday morning continued to count votes. Miyares, who was ahead with about 95 percent of the vote counted just before 1 a.m., declared victory and said he was “humbled and honored” to become the first Latino elected as the state’s top lawyer. A win for him would represent a major upset for a candidate who had never run for statewide office before and was taking on one of Virginia’s marquee political names. By early Wednesday, Herring had not publicly conceded.

Miyares, a former prosecutor who was little known outside his Virginia Beach district before this run, paired a hard-edge, tough-on-crime message with a softer, more uplifting appeal centered on his family’s story of emigrating from Cuba. Herring ran on a vision of the attorney general’s office as a “progressive powerhouse” championing liberal causes like access to abortion, gun control and same-sex marriage… (Excerpts from Washington Post)