House of Delegates Minority Leader David Toscano has told his caucus he’s planning to resign from the position, possibly after the 2019 General Assembly session.
If he follows through according to the expected timeline, Toscano’s resignation would clear the way for new Democratic leadership going into a pivotal election year. Republicans have a one-seat majority in the House, and Democrats believe they have a strong chance to flip the chamber next year after making major gains in 2017.
Toscano would be the Democrats’ presumptive choice for House speaker if they take the majority, but his announcement Thursday night at a caucus meeting in Richmond means someone else could emerge from the Democratic ranks for the top role.
“I didn’t think it made a lot of sense to just resign in one fell swoop,” Toscano said in an interview. “I’m trying to set a transition plan in place so that we can make some changes after session.”
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A lawyer and former Charlottesville mayor, Toscano, 68, has served as the Democratic leader since 2011. He briefly resigned from the leadership position in 2015 but immediately reversed course, saying colleagues had urged him to stay on.
Toscano said he made his decision due to the “time demands” of the job, which have grown along with the size of the caucus.
“It just takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of time away from my law practice. It takes a lot of time away from my family,” Toscano said.
Toscano added that he plans to be “very active on the floor again” for the 2019 legislative session, which begins Jan. 9.
House Democrats were badly outnumbered for much of his tenure. But the dynamic changed last year, when Democrats flipped 15 Republican-held seats, nearly erasing what had been a 66-34 GOP majority. After a handful of recounts and the equivalent of a coin toss to break a tie in Newport News, Republicans held on to a 51-49 majority.
Though Toscano led the caucus during those victories, some Democrats believe the party could’ve gained even more seats if Toscano had done more to take advantage of anti-Trump energy that gave Democrats a shot at winning in former Republican strongholds.
Del. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, considered a bid to replace Toscano as leader earlier this year. It’s not clear she’ll even be in the House next year because she’s now running for a state Senate seat coming open after Democratic Sen. Jennifer Wexton’s congressional victory over Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-10th.
Last December, longtime Del. Ken Plum, D-Fairfax, said he would be interested in serving as speaker if Democrats took the majority.
Del. Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, is second in command as the Democratic caucus chair.
Trevor Southerland, executive director of the House Democratic Caucus, released a statement saying the caucus is grateful for Toscano’s service. Toscano led Democrats to “our largest victory in Virginia in this century or the last,” Southerland said, and raised more than $2.5 million for Democrats last year.
Southerland’s statement provided few details about the selection of Toscano’s replacement.
“This is an internal caucus matter and future decisions regarding the election of a new leader will be handled internally,” Southerland said.
Toscano wouldn’t rule out a run for speaker if the Democrats take the majority in 2019.
“A year is an eternity in politics. So you never rule out anything,” Toscano said. “Let’s get to the majority before we start talking about anything else.”