Government of Virginia

The government of Virginia combines the three branches of authority in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The current Governor of Virginia is Terry McAuliffe. The State Capitol building in Richmond was designed by Thomas Jefferson, and the cornerstone was laid by Governor Patrick Henry in 1785. Virginia currently functions under the 1971 Constitution of Virginia. It is the Commonwealth's seventh constitution. Under the Constitution, the government is composed of three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.