[Updated to reflect correction in seniority rankings, based on incorrect information from the House of Delegates Website.]
There’s generally nowhere to go but up, seniority-wise, for freshman members of the Virginia House of Delegates.
But for new-for-2022 Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, the marathon to reach No. 1 will be a little less arduous than some of her colleagues.
Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria-Arlington-Fairfax) ended up 85th in seniority, based on a drawing among freshman delegates.
(For any of them, the odds against making it to the most senior member of the body are arduous; the current holder of that title, Democrat Ken Plum of Reston, has served in the lower house of the legislature continuously since 1982, with previous service in 1978-79.)
Currently holding down the most junior position, seniority-wise, is Del. Jackie Hope Glass (D-Norfolk), who won office in a Jan. 11 special election necessitated by the resignation of Del. Jay Jones and starts behind all the new delegates elected in the November 2021 election.
With retirements and defeats among those ahead of them in line, Arlington’s other delegates bumped up a bit in the seniority rankings for the 2022 session, with Del. Patrick Hope at 17th most senior, Del. Alfonso Lopez at 27th and Del. Rip Sullivan at 44th.