Two experienced prosecutors are facing off in a race for Fredericksburg Commonwealth’s Attorney this November.
Incumbent Libby Humphries is seeking re-election to the post that she’s held for the past four years. Humphries has served in the city’s CA office dating back to 2018, starting as a deputy supervising attorney in charge of juvenile cases and parole violations.
Her opponent, Travis Bird, served previously as the commonwealth’s attorney in neighboring Spotsylvania County, where in 2015, he unseated a 28-year incumbent in Bill Neely. Before that, he served in the city’s CA office under LaBravia Jenkins.
Following his tenure in Spotsylvania, Bird went to work for the National District Attorneys Association, a national organization that represents more than 6,000 prosecutors in front of the federal government. He’s currently serving as an assistant prosecutor in Richmond County in Virginia’s Northern Neck.
Press the Issue
For more information on the Commonwealth’s Attorney candidates, visit their websites: Libby Humphries; Travis Bird.
In terms of accomplishments, Humphries touted her work in launching the Fredericksburg Therapeutic Docket, a first-of-its-kind docket that will operate out of Fredericksburg General District Court, focusing on nonviolent offenses with a behavioral health element.
Bird, 52, is a staunch believer in alternative dockets, noting that under his watch Spotsylvania County was one of just a handful of jurisdictions in the state to operate a drug court, behavioral health docket and veteran’s docket.
“You can’t prosecute your way out of mental health or drug addiction,” Bird said.
Travis Bird
Bird said that he still has several friends and colleagues from his previous tenure in the city and, at one point, he thought Fredericksburg might be where he spent his entire career.
“It was a calling again where local members of the community, law enforcement, professional, legal, and business owners reached out to me and asked me if I’d consider running,” he said of entering the race. “They asked me numerous times and enough times that finally I decided I would.”
Humphries also pointed to her efforts in assembling an organized retail theft work group, which will collaborate across disciplines and jurisdictions.
“These are people who sometimes go up and down the Eastern seaboard stealing from stores,” Humphries explained. “They’re very difficult cases to prosecute.”
Under Humphries, the Fredericksburg CA’s office has kept a fully-staffed office with eight attorneys “at a time when there are prosecutor shortages both in Virginia and across the country,” she said.
Last year, her office secured convictions in the murder of Jasiah Smith. In November 2024, Aaron Carter and Lorenzo Brooks were each sentenced to 40 years, with 15 suspended, for second-degree murder, along with three years for the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
“That was a very complex case with obviously a lot of emotional dynamics for the community,” said Humphries of the crime, in which both the victim and perpetrators were current or former James Monroe High School students who knew each other.
Libby Humphries
Unsurprisingly, Humphries cited youth gun violence as a pressing public safety issue in the city. She’s part of a youth violence steering committee that meets periodically to develop solutions to what she said is a multifaceted problem.
“We’re trying to find evidence-based community approaches,” she said. “Both, you know, preventing it in the first place, but also intervening before it gets to that point of violence.
Bird agreed that violence is a problem in Fredericksburg. He doesn’t, however, believe that his opponent has done a good enough job prosecuting those cases that have gone to trial.
“I find it hard to comprehend the amount of violent crime cases that have been found not guilty in the city,” he said.
Early voting begins Friday. Election Day is Nov. 4.
