Government | Politics | Lobbying 2025: TERRY KILGORE

In an unusual Republican party leadership vote in June, Del. Terry Kilgore was voted in as the GOP’s House minority leader, succeeding Del. C. Todd Gilbert, who stepped down to become U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia. Kilgore, who has served in the House since 1994, unsuccessfully challenged Gilbert for the position in 2021 and held the House majority leader post during Gilbert’s term as speaker in 2022-24.

If Republicans win back control of the House this fall, Kilgore is poised to become the next speaker. Part of a prominent political family in Scott County, Kilgore is the twin brother of former Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore. He is a criminal defense attorney at Mitchell Kilgore, a law firm with offices throughout Southwest Virginia.

In the House, Kilgore has advocated for redevelopment of abandoned coal mines in his home district and its surroundings, as well as building small modular nuclear reactors. He is the former chair of the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission and still serves as a commissioner, and he helped launch InvestSWVA, a marketing campaign to attract business to Southwest Virginia.

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