# Dave Marsden

Dave Marsden is a Democratic member of the Virginia Senate for district 35.

- Party: Democrat
- Seat: Virginia Senate, district 35
- Serving since: 2024-01-10
- Current term: VA 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/22817a2c-911a-458a-b2a6-b7f237ef68f0

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/22817a2c-911a-458a-b2a6-b7f237ef68f0 (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

Marsden missed 4.0% of 6,566 roll calls, attendance in the bottom quarter of the Virginia Senate (average 97.8%).

## What Marsden says (VA 2025–26 session)

39 classified statements: 39 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State Senate Democrats average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Marsden | State Senate Democrats average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 0.0% | 2.4% | 248 of 329 |
| Policy criticism | 0.0% | 10.3% | 304 of 329 |
| Policy discussion | 53.8% | 42.9% | 109 of 329 |
| Bipartisanship | 7.7% | 3.4% | 32 of 329 |
| Credit claiming | 38.5% | 16.1% | 18 of 329 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 0.8% | 228 of 329 |

Most discussed policy areas: Education 19% (State Senate Democrats 15%); Commerce 14% (State Senate Democrats 3.6%); Environmental Protection 14% (State Senate Democrats 4.4%); Government Operations and Politics 14% (State Senate Democrats 14%); Water Resources Development 14% (State Senate Democrats 1.2%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score −0.58 (standard error 0.03), from 210 donors and 1,187 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 61% of State Senate Democrats score lower.

## Votes (VA 2025–26 session)

6,566 roll calls. Attendance 96.0% (Virginia Senate 97.8%). Party unity 98.3% (95.7%). 31 votes against the party majority.

## Legislation (VA 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 54 bills: 54 reached committee, 26 passed one chamber, 15 passed both, 12 became law. Cosponsored 134. 87.0% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Virginia Senate 90.1%; rank 30 of 40).

Recent sponsored bills:

- SJ 257: Commending the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. (passed both chambers, 2026-03-25) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SJ257/
- SR 114: Commending Mission Blue. (passed one chamber, 2026-03-26) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SR114/
- SR 116: Commending Quentin Kidd. (passed one chamber, 2026-03-26) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SR116/
- SJ 268: Commending the River Basin Grand Winners of the Clean Water Farm Award. (passed both chambers, 2026-03-25) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SJ268/
- SR 115: Commending Bob Holsworth. (passed one chamber, 2026-03-26) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SR115/
- SB 622: Title insurance; schedule of risk rates, policy rates. (passed one chamber, 2026-03-02) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SB622/
- SB 588: Solar facilities; Department of Energy to develop criteria to determine appropriateness of sites. (in committee, 2026-02-17) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SB588/
- SB 719: Virginia Farm and Forest Prosperity Plan; OSAF to develop and implement comprehensive Plan, report. (became law, 2026-04-13) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SB719/
- SB 650: Public utilities; water and sewerage companies, discounted rates for low-income customers. (became law, 2026-04-06) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SB650/
- SR 6: Qualifying vehicles, certain; Dept. of Tax. to study options for abolishing personal property tax. (in committee, 2026-07-21) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2027/SR6/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $55.6K (State Senate Democrats median $55.5K). 83% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Recent statements

Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only.

- 2026-10-19 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/SenDaveMarsden/status/2111982908999438598
- 2026-10-14 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/SenDaveMarsden/status/2110449026818818497
- 2026-05-27 · Post on X · https://x.com/https://x.com/SenDaveMarsden/status/2059432460228657328
- 2026-01-16 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/SenDaveMarsden/status/2012014990975525091
- 2025-12-12 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/SenDaveMarsden/status/1999541052126929061
- 2025-12-12 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/SenDaveMarsden/status/1999541053720818158
- 2025-12-12 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/SenDaveMarsden/status/1999541055524348019
- 2025-12-12 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/SenDaveMarsden/status/1999541057046933960
- 2025-12-09 · Post on X · https://x.com/https://x.com/SenDaveMarsden/status/1998423770143641666
- 2025-12-06 · Post on X · labels: credit claiming · https://x.com/https://x.com/SenDaveMarsden/status/1997375062060519861

## Links

- Official site: https://apps.senate.virginia.gov/Senator/memberpage.php?id=S80
- Campaign site: https://marsdenforsenate.nationbuilder.com/
- X: https://x.com/SenDaveMarsden
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dave-Marsden-for-Senate-193359812373
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-marsden-93552630/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/22817a2c-911a-458a-b2a6-b7f237ef68f0