Virginia Elections

Barbour, McEachin meet in primary rematch for Richmond commonwealth’s attorney

VPM | By Dean Mirshahi

Published June 9, 2025 at 5:00 PM EDT

Attorney Tom Barbour (left) is challenging incumbent Commonwealth's Attorney Colette McEachin (right) in a Democratic primary for Richmond's top prosecutor job for the second time. (Photo composite: Courtesy of Tom Barbour campaign; Shaban Athuman/VPM News File)

The candidates have clashed on their views of the role of the city’s chief prosecutor.

Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Colette McEachin and attorney Tom Barbour both think the other is wrong for the city's top prosecutor job.

They are facing off in a June 17 Democratic primary rematch in a city typically without a Republican candidate, so the winner is all but certain to be leading Richmond's prosecutor's office next year. McEachin won the previous round, in 2021, with more than 73% of the vote.

McEachin, who has been in the commonwealth’s attorney’s office for 25 years and has been its chief prosecutor since 2019, says Barbour simply lacks the experience for the role.

“The fact that Tom would say that he is prepared to be the commonwealth’s attorney of the City of Richmond when, right now, he has the same level of prosecutorial experience as my three youngest new attorneys is laughable,” she said in an interview. “How is he going to train them? What is he going to teach them?”

For Barbour, who worked as a prosecutor in the office for 10 months, McEachin has an outdated approach for the office and has fallen short of what city residents hope for in a prosecutor.

“I think this election poses a singular choice, which is: Do we want more of the same, or do we want change and progress for better public safety?” Barbour told VPM News.

In phone interviews, McEachin and Barbour outlined their views on the criminal justice system, the role of Richmond’s commonwealth’s attorney and sharply different visions on how to steer the office forward.

What should the commonwealth’s attorney’s role be?

Barbour, 40, is a criminal defense attorney with a private law firm and also a small nonprofit aimed at reducing recidivism called the Virginia Holistic Justice Initiative. His wife is a senior public defender in Richmond.

He said Richmond’s commonwealth’s attorney should be the city’s chief public safety officer, working with law enforcement and others “to prevent and reduce crime.”

“I want us to see our public safety system improve,” Barbour said. “I think a lot of Richmonders, especially right now, want to see us take seriously how we do our government services.”

McEachin, 69, said her office is “one of the best in the state,” with experienced attorneys handling several highly complex violent crime cases daily. She touted her office expanding drug and mental health treatment opportunities for people charged with crimes.

She told VPM News Barbour isn’t ready for the top job, which she said should be to “promote public safety, to provide second chances to people who want them and ultimately to hold offenders accountable for what they did.”

“Being a good prosecutor is not something you learn in law school,” McEachin said. “It takes muscle memory.”

Barbour, a former senior policy advisor to McEachin’s predecessor, Michael Herring — who resigned after taking a job at the law firm McGuireWoods — pushed back on the view that he’s unprepared for the job.

He called himself a “holistic trial attorney” with an array of experience as a prosecutor, defense attorney and civil litigator that makes him the right person for the commonwealth’s attorney.

In response to McEachin’s doubts about his ability to do the job, Barbour argued her experience has left her stuck in a mindset that “has not changed.”

How should the commonwealth’s attorney’s office address Richmond’s biggest issues?

If elected, Barbour said he would prioritize addressing Richmond’s violent crimes.

In the short term, he said, his office would work with police to focus on people involved in shootings; his long-term plan would center on repeat offenders.

“Most of the people in the system have been in there for a very long time, and they're cycling through the doors,” Barbour told VPM News. “That's because we're not addressing the root causes of why they're there.”

Barbour described McEachin’s office as “an outmoded administration” not willing to do the work to manage violent crime or focus on long-term public safety initiatives — efforts that he said demands improved access to social services.

To address these issues, Barbour said he would expand alternative prosecution efforts, raising concerns over limited slots for offenders to get support and treatment for drug addiction and mental health issues.

McEachin argued that Barbour isn’t aware of how her office operates and the work it has done on key issues such as violent crimes. To help address youth gun violence, McEachin said her office started a policy that young people with guns get supervised probation for them and their families.

A future goal for McEachin is bringing a family justice center, similar to one in Norfolk, to Richmond to provide services and assistance to victims of domestic and intimate partner violence.

McEachin believes having a family justice center would help reduce gun violence in the city, which she described as “a community-wide, multilevel, multiyear problem that has to be approached from a lot of different directions.”

Differing approaches to investigating high-profile cases

The city has seen multiple high-profile cases of reported misconduct, including ones involving former General Registrar Keith Balmer and ex-City Council candidate Tavares Floyd.

Balmer resigned last December following a critical report by Richmond Inspector General James Osuna — who was himself fired in May — that found he violated city policies and misused public funds. Floyd, who was once 6th District Councilor Ellen Robertson’s liaison, was accused of filing false campaign paperwork.

Questions were raised about who has the authority to investigate the claims; many — including Barbour — pointed towards McEachin.

Barbour has criticized McEachin for her office’s response, claiming she did not look into the cases. If elected, he said he would review both cases and notify people about investigations of public interest.

During an appearance on the VPM podcast RVA’s Got Issues, McEachin said Barbour’s claims that she didn’t investigate Floyd were not true, saying Barbour “knows nothing.” Richmond “will know the results of any investigation that takes place,” McEachin said on the podcast.

When asked about it, Barbour claimed a probe was never launched.

“It's been at this point about eight months. That is not a complicated case. It's a paper case,” he said. “That there are no indictments yet tells me that there is no investigation, because it does not take that long to build a paper case like that.”

Barbour also brought up a speeding ticket that Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards got for going 61 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone, telling VPM News Edwards got off easy for only paying fees and attending driving school. He said Edwards should have been placed on a restricted license for six months, done at least 50 hours of community service and taken part in an aggressive driver program.

McEachin said she didn’t remember the specifics of Edwards’ case, and criticized Barbour’s vision as seeking a “one-size-fits-all solution” to reckless driving.

McEachin said she doesn’t want to publicize investigations to avoid tarnishing potential trials — adding that Barbour doesn’t realize how complex a “paper case” can be.

“He only knows a little, but he's talking a lot of trash, and he has no more special knowledge than anyone else in the City of Richmond who is not working in this office with me on any investigation,” McEachin said.

Criticism of the city’s Restorative Justice Program

One of the initiatives McEachin highlighted was the creation of the Restorative Justice Program, which gives people the possibility to get their charges reduced or dismissed after meeting with victims for mediation.

Barbour characterized the program as “a failure,” saying that of the 20 people who have taken part since its inception in 2021, two of the people who had charges dismissed were city police officers charged after claims that they pepper-sprayed three women in a car during the 2020 protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

While McEachin said she hopes more people utilize the program, she was highly critical of Barbour’s assessment. She said his response shows he thinks the 20 people “are like dirt on the bottom of his shoe.”

To build on the restorative justice process, McEachin said she hopes to continue informing the public about it by boosting community outreach about the program.

Early voting is ongoing for the commonwealth’s attorney race — and other elections across the state. The Virginia Public Access Project says more than 4,500 votes have been cast as of June 8.