A House of Delegates member from northern Virginia has been selected as the new chairwoman of the state Democratic Party and the first African-American to lead the party.
Del. Charniele Herring was unanimously elected Saturday in Williamsburg by the state party's ruling central committee.
The three-term delegate from Alexandria succeeds Brian Moran.
Moran announced he wouldn't seek another term after his party won Virginia's presidential and senatorial elections in November.
The party's likely nominee for governor, Terry McAuliffe, called Herring's selection historic.
Herring was elected to the House of Delegates in a special election to succeed Moran in 2009, when he resigned his seat in the 46th District to concentrate on his gubernatorial campaign. She ran unopposed for re-election in 2011.
News4's Julie Carey described Herring as "the Democrats' point person in Richmond, [who] led sessions on reproductive rights issues. The Obama for America campaign in Virginia also used her extensively as a surrogate spokesperson [during the President's re-election campaign]."
