David A. Mick is a candidate for Chesapeake Commonwealth’s Attorney. He is running as a Republican. His name will appear on the November 4, 2025 General Election ballot. Mick is running against Democratic challenger, Matthew R. “Matt” Hamel, who is the incumbent.
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10 On Your Side reached out to all of the candidates running in this race, with a request for a bio and a list of questions to answer. The bio is unedited; this is what the candidate submitted. If you do not see the candidate listed with a profile, we did not receive one.
Name: David Mick
Age: 44
Website: https://www.davidmick.com/
Party: Republican
Biography
I am a lifelong resident of Hampton Roads and am a seasoned prosecutor with nearly two decades of criminal law experience. After beginning my criminal law career as a Public Defender, I served as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney and Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney in the City of Chesapeake under the Honorable Nancy Parr. I then went on to serve as an Assistant Attorney General assigned to criminal litigation, cold cases, writs of actual innocence, and special investigations. In 2022 I was appointed by Governor Glenn Youngkin to serve on the Board of the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice. Currently, I am Chairman of the Virginia Board of Juvenile Justice and serve as a citizen appointee on the Chesapeake Community Justice Board. I have personally tried numerous jury trials, have handled thousands of criminal cases from simple misdemeanors to first degree murder, and have successfully argued at every level of Virginia Courts, even the Supreme Court of Virginia. In addition to being a skilled trial lawyer, I have also mentored many attorneys and led a team of prosecutors as a Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney in Chesapeake. Simply put, I have the proven record that Chesapeake can trust.
If you are elected, what will be your top priority in office?
Public Safety will be my number one priority. I will get tough on violent crime and hold those criminals accountable. I am the only candidate in this race that has personally handled murder cases and has tried numerous other violent felonies right here in Chesapeake. My opponent has failed time and time again to successfully prosecute cases and is too soft on violent crime. I will also train and mentor my prosecutors to be unafraid to take on violence in our city. I will work with the attorneys and support staff to give them the resources they need to convict criminals and get them off our streets.
What is the most important change the General Assembly should make to the criminal justice system?
The General Assembly needs to fix Virginia’s Enhanced Earned Sentence Credits (EESC) law. Under the EESC sentences can be cut by up to 33% with minimal requirements; meaning that if someone is sentenced to 9 years in jail they might get out having served only six, that’s wrong. The EESC program allows serious, violent, repeat offenders to receive substantial sentence reductions. In the first full year of EESC nearly 50% of those released under the program were rearrested in that year. I have said that I would be a data driven prosecutor and the data shows that EESC is currently a threat to public safety and needs to be repealed. I believe in redemption and want people to re-enter society successfully but as applied EESC does not do that.
What is your philosophy on plea agreements? Are there cases when you think they are not appropriate?
Every case should be assessed on its merits, with the charges filed fitting the law to which it applies. The same goes for plea agreements. Separating violent and career criminals from a misguided person on their first charge is one of the most important functions of the justice system. Having said that my office will seek incarceration for all violent offenses. Anyone who commits murder, rape, robbery, carjacking or any other violent offense needs to be incarcerated to keep our community safe. Unlike my opponent, I will prioritize putting violent offenders behind bars instead of letting them off with community service.
