# Rae Cousins

Rae Cousins is a Democratic member of the Virginia House for district 79.

- Party: Democrat
- Seat: Virginia House, district 79
- Serving since: 2024-01-10
- Current term: VA 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/359eaeba-903c-42b4-b9e3-5c5b4e9d721d

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/359eaeba-903c-42b4-b9e3-5c5b4e9d721d (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

Cousins sits at −1.06 on the CSIP scale, more liberal than 93% of State House Democrats.

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

64 classified statements: 64 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State House Democrats average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Cousins | State House Democrats average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 0.0% | 2.5% | 584 of 764 |
| Policy criticism | 9.4% | 10.4% | 329 of 764 |
| Policy discussion | 60.9% | 39.2% | 95 of 764 |
| Bipartisanship | 4.7% | 2.9% | 160 of 764 |
| Credit claiming | 29.7% | 14.4% | 89 of 764 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 1.0% | 543 of 764 |

Most discussed policy areas: Education 21% (State House Democrats 15%); Water Resources Development 18% (State House Democrats 1.3%); Health 15% (State House Democrats 15%); Agriculture and Food 13% (State House Democrats 4.6%); Crime and Law Enforcement 10% (State House Democrats 8.0%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score −1.06 (standard error 0.03), from 334 donors and 598 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 7.0% of State House Democrats score lower.

## Votes (VA 2025–26 session)

3,859 roll calls. Attendance 99.9% (Virginia House 98.2%). Party unity 98.9% (96.5%). 23 votes against the party majority.

## Legislation (VA 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 64 bills: 63 reached committee, 45 passed one chamber, 22 passed both, 16 became law. Cosponsored 543. 76.6% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Virginia House 84.4%; rank 76 of 98).

Recent sponsored bills:

- HR 2126: Commending Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP. (passed one chamber, 2026-06-30) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026S1/HR2126/
- HR 2127: Commending Croaker's Spot. (passed one chamber, 2026-06-30) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026S1/HR2127/
- HR 2129: Commending the Central Virginia Transportation Authority. (passed one chamber, 2026-06-30) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026S1/HR2129/
- HR 2128: Commending Providence Park Baptist Church. (passed one chamber, 2026-06-30) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026S1/HR2128/
- HR 422: Celebrating the life of the Reverend A. Lincoln James, Jr. (introduced, 2026-03-13) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/HR422/
- HR 423: Commending John W. Haun, Ed.D. (passed one chamber, 2026-03-13) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/HR423/
- HR 394: Commending the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities. (passed one chamber, 2026-03-12) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/HR394/
- HR 375: Commending the John Marshall High School boys' basketball team. (passed one chamber, 2026-03-11) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/HR375/
- HJ 276: Commending Meredith Farrar-Owens. (passed one chamber, 2026-04-13) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/HJ276/
- HR 225: Commending We Off the Couch. (passed one chamber, 2026-04-20) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/HR225/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $126.6K (State House Democrats median $40.4K). 92% 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.

- 2025-11-06 · Post on X · https://x.com/https://x.com/Rae_Cousins23/status/1986563371697631500
- 2025-10-13 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/Rae_Cousins23/status/1977765326533128536
- 2025-10-09 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/https://x.com/Rae_Cousins23/status/1976320558481739820
- 2025-09-22 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/Rae_Cousins23/status/1970240857732153767
- 2025-09-16 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/https://x.com/Rae_Cousins23/status/1967963822385483800
- 2025-09-16 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/Rae_Cousins23/status/1967963825124286679
- 2025-09-16 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/Rae_Cousins23/status/1967963826965692836
- 2025-09-16 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/Rae_Cousins23/status/1968056724776272156
- 2025-09-10 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/https://x.com/Rae_Cousins23/status/1965821162182816235
- 2025-08-21 · Post on X · https://x.com/https://x.com/Rae_Cousins23/status/1958640536601899378

## Links

- Official site: https://virginiageneralassembly.gov/house/members/members.php?id=H0356
- Campaign site: https://www.raecousins.com/
- X: https://x.com/Rae_Cousins23
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089892337507
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rae.cousins
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raecousins/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rae-cousins-202070b3/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/359eaeba-903c-42b4-b9e3-5c5b4e9d721d