Thomas Kent Norment Jr. (born April 12, 1946) is an American politician who served as the Minority Leader and Majority Leader of the Senate of Virginia. He was elected to the James City County Board of Supervisors where he served as chairman before being elected to the Virginia Senate in 1991. According to the Clerk of the Virginia Senate, Norment was first elected as Minority Leader in 2007 and is tied with Senator Richard "Dick" Saslaw for having switched between Minority and Majority leader more than any other two senators in Virginia's history. Similarly, Senator Norment holds the records for the longest serving Republican senator as well as the longest serving Senate Republican Leader in the history of the Commonwealth.
A Republican, he represented the 3rd district of the Virginia Senate which, during his service, was based around Williamsburg, Virginia. Norment served on the Commerce and Labor, Judiciary, Rules, and Finance and Appropriations Committees. Norment also served as a member of the Governor's Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates, the Virginia Crime Commission, the Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council, and the Major Economic Impact (MEI) Project Approval Commission.
A longtime resident of James City County, Norment maintains an active role in the community. Norment serves as Chairman of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and is the only individual to have served in this role more than once. He has served as a member of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's board of trustees. He further serves on the Hampton Roads Board of Directors for TowneBank, chairs the Williamsburg Board of TowneBank, and serves as a member of the College of William and Mary Board of Visitors.
Professionally, Norment is an attorney with Kaufman and Canoles, P.C. and a former law professor at the College of William and Mary. He is a graduate of James Blair High School, the Virginia Military Institute, and the Marshall Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary.
Background Born in the City of Richmond, Norment spent his youth in Williamsburg where he attended James Blair High School. During his time in high school, Norment was elected class president and was named "most likely to succeed". Having served as President of the student council, high school is where the future senator got his first taste of politics. Norment graduated from the Virginia Military Institute and received his J.D. degree from William and Mary School of Law.
Norment opened his first law office in Newport News where his path to becoming a prominent attorney was marked by high-stakes criminal defense cases, including high-profile rape and murder cases.
Parallel to his burgeoning legal career, Tommy was actively involved in local volunteer work through the College of William and Mary. Norment served as an adjunct professor of law at William and Mary Law School.William and Mary Law School He served as on-campus attorney, and counselor and attorney to the president of William and Mary.Virginia Gazette
Norment entered into his first marriage to Mary Carlisle Humelsine, daughter of Carlisle Humelsine, the longtime president of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Norment's connections to the prominent Humelsine family helped propel his political aspirations into reality.
Norment married his second wife, Richmond lobbyist Angie Bezik, in 2018.
Political career Initially a Democrat,Tommy Norment: the Peninsula's new legislative powerhouse (Daily Press) Norment was elected to the James City County Board of Supervisors as a Republican and served from 1987 to 1991.In Norment-Reyes race, it's the old versus the new (Daily Press) He was elected to the state senate in 1991, defeating incumbent Democrat Bill Fears with 54% of the vote.Elections Database Norment was unopposed for reelection in 1995, reelected with 63% of the vote in 1999, reelected with 62% of the vote in 2003, reelected unopposed in 2007 and 2011, reelected with 70% of the vote in 2015, and re-elected with 61.7% of the vote in 2019.Elections Database Norment decided not to seek re-election in 2023 and officially retired from the Senate of Virginia on January 9, 2024. He led the Virginia Senate Republican caucus since 2007. As the longest serving Senate Republican Leader in Virginia history, Senator Norment has built a significant resume of achievements.
School Safety
In 1995, Senator Norment introduced and passed the legislation (SB874) that requires the immediate one-year expulsion of students who illegally bring firearms onto school property or to a school-sponsored event. Based on the facts of the specific case, school boards may determine that special circumstances exist and another disciplinary action or term of expulsion is appropriate.
In 2002, Norment introduced and passed the legislation (SB295) that implemented dedicated school safety personnel with law enforcement authority. This ensured every school in the Commonwealth had the opportunity to install a school resource officer in their schools. School resource officers are employed by school districts with the singular purpose of maintaining order and discipline, preventing crime, investigating violations of school board policies, and detaining students violating the law or school board policies on school property or at school-sponsored events and who is responsible solely for ensuring the safety, security, and welfare of all students, faculty, staff, and visitors in the assigned school.
In 2007, Norment introduced and passed SB927 which prohibited any adult who has been convicted of a sexually violent offense is guilty of a Class 6 felony if they enter or are present, during school school hours, upon any property they know or have reason to know is a public or private elementary or secondary school or child day center property, unless they (i) are lawfully voting; (ii) are a student enrolled at the school; or (iii) has received a court order allowing them to enter upon such property. That legislation was expanded in 2011 (SB1185) when Norment clarified that sex offenders were prohibited from school buses, and any property, public or private, during hours when such property is being used solely by a public or private elementary or secondary school for a school-related or school-sponsored activity.
In a crackdown on hazing, which has led to the deaths of Virginia students on more than one occasion, Senator Norment introduced and passed SB448 in 2014 which required the policies of any public school or public institution of higher education regarding hazing to be consistent with the model policies established by the Department of Education or the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, as applicable, and directs such agencies to establish model policies with the Department of Criminal Justice Services.
In 2015 Norment introduced and passed SB1193 which required public and private institutions of higher education to include a prominent notation on the transcript of each student who has been suspended for, expelled, or withdraws from the institution while under investigation for an offense involving sexual violence. Following a tragic accident in York County that led to the deaths of three young teenagers, Senator Norment introduced and passed legislation that clarified driver education programs must teach students about the dangers of distracted driving and speeding. The bill further requires that students must provide evidence of a valid driver's license or driver privilege card prior to obtaining a pass to park on school property.
In 2021, a student in Loudoun County's school system sexually assaulted a female classmate in the bathroom of a high school. That student was transferred to another school while parents and law enforcement were left unnotified. The student again sexually assaulted a student in the new school and Loudoun County school administration again attempted to cover up the incident.
In an attempt to limit the number of violent acts perpetrated by students in schools, Senator Norment introduced and passed legislation (SB36 2022) that requires principals to report to law enforcement certain violent misdemeanor crimes and report to the parents of any minor student who is the specific object of such act that the incident has been reported to law enforcement. Previously, only felony offenses were required to be reported. The legislation provides exceptions to the reporting requirement for students with documented disabilities.
DUI/Traffic Safety
Norment was successful in orchestrating and passing the 1994 Omnibus Alcohol Safety Act (SB176), which serves as the foundation for all of Virginia's current DUI laws. The legislation provided for an immediate seven-day suspension of the driver's license of any person who is arrested for a DUI violation if such person (i) unreasonably refuses to submit to a breath test or (ii) registers 0.08 or higher on the breath test, upon issuance of a warrant by a magistrate. The bill imposes a 6-month license forfeiture and a $500 fine upon conviction. 1999 was an important year in the career of Senator Norment.
In 1991, he revisited Virginia's DUI laws with SB 841, working to make them stronger and more effective at deterring drunk driving and the lives lost because of it. This legislation made a third DUI offense within 10 years a Class 6 felony, with fourth and subsequent offenses carrying a one-year mandatory, minimum jail sentence.
Subsequently, in 2002 (SB148), Norment strengthened Virginia's “open container” laws by creating a rebuttable presumption that the driver has consumed an alcoholic beverage if (i) an open container is located in the passenger area of a motor vehicle, (ii) the alcoholic beverage in the open container has been at least partially removed, and (iii) the appearance, conduct, odor of alcohol, speech, or other physical characteristic of the driver may be reasonably associated with the consumption of an alcoholic beverage.
Norment introduced groundbreaking distracted driving legislation in Virginia in 2002 (SB597). This legislation added an instructional component concerning distracted driving to the requirements for driver education in the public schools and requires the Department of Motor Vehicles’ driver improvement clinic programs to include instruction concerning alcohol and drug abuse, aggressive driving, distracted driving, and motorcycle awareness.
In 2013 (SB1272), Norment again strengthened Virginia's DUI laws by making all subsequent felony DUI offenses a class 6 felony with a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of one year with the same driver's license restrictions as for a third or subsequent DUI offense within 10 years, which means they can petition for reinstatement after five years since their last conviction.
Tourism
In 1999, Norment created the Virginia Tourism Authority (VTA)(SB1142), which is the leading entity in Virginia on tourism promotion to this day, although it is now called the Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC). The VTC exists to support and encourage each locality to foster its own tourism development programs; enter into agreements with public or private entities that provide participating funding to establish tourism centers, encourage, stimulate, and support tourism in the Commonwealth by promoting, marketing, and advertising the Commonwealth's many tourist attractions and locations; encourage and stimulate the film industry in the Commonwealth. According to VTC, in 2021 travelers to Virginia spent $69 million per day which has contributed significantly to Virginia's ability to keep taxes and fees on Virginia's citizens so low.