Tom Perriello

Thomas Stuart Price Perriello (born October 9, 1974) is an American attorney, diplomat, and politician. He previously served in numerous positions at the United States State Department, including special representative for the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, special envoy for the African Great Lakes, and special envoy for Sudan. A Democrat, Perriello served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 5th congressional district from 2009 to 2011. Perriello ran for Virginia's 5th congressional district in 2008. He narrowly defeated six-term Republican incumbent Virgil H. Goode Jr. by 727 votes out of over 317,000 cast. At the time he served, the district included much of Southside Virginia and stretched north to Charlottesville. Perriello was defeated in the 2010 election by Republican state senator Robert Hurt. In February 2014, he was appointed special representative for the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, serving until July 2015. From July 2015 to December 2016, he was special envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo, succeeding former U.S. senator Russ Feingold. Perriello ran for the Democratic nomination in the 2017 Virginia gubernatorial election, but lost to Ralph Northam. For over four years until July 2023, Perriello served as the executive director for U.S. Programs at the Open Society Foundations. On February 26, 2024, Perriello was appointed special envoy for Sudan. He resigned on January 18, 2025, shortly before the second inauguration of Donald Trump. He is the Democratic nominee for Virginia's 5th congressional district in the 2026 election.