# Derrick Simmons

Derrick Simmons is a Democratic member of the Mississippi Senate for district 12.

- Party: Democrat
- Seat: Mississippi Senate, district 12
- Serving since: 2011-03-11
- Current term: MS 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/3ea1bab4-64f2-4ff3-b0a9-e04a8caa3e9f

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/3ea1bab4-64f2-4ff3-b0a9-e04a8caa3e9f (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

100% of Simmons’s itemized money in the 2026 cycle came from Mississippi, in the top quarter of State Senate Democrats.

## What Simmons says (MS 2025–26 session)

46 classified statements: 46 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 | Simmons | State Senate Democrats average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 0.0% | 2.4% | 248 of 329 |
| Policy criticism | 15.2% | 10.3% | 89 of 329 |
| Policy discussion | 39.1% | 42.9% | 191 of 329 |
| Bipartisanship | 0.0% | 3.4% | 294 of 329 |
| Credit claiming | 4.3% | 16.1% | 268 of 329 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 0.8% | 228 of 329 |

Most discussed policy areas: Education 28% (State Senate Democrats 15%); Law 22% (State Senate Democrats 2.2%); Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues 17% (State Senate Democrats 8.4%); Economics and Public Finance 17% (State Senate Democrats 10%); Government Operations and Politics 17% (State Senate Democrats 14%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score −0.53 (standard error 0.03), from 5 donors and 836 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 69% of State Senate Democrats score lower.

## Votes (MS 2025–26 session)

2,113 roll calls. Attendance 94.2% (Mississippi Senate 97.1%). Party unity 98.4% (88%). 51 votes against the party majority.

Key votes:

- 2026-07-16 · voted not voting · Passage · HB 2 Appropriation; Department of Human Services of. · pass · https://openstates.org/ms/bills/20261E/HB2/
- 2026-07-16 · voted not voting · Passage · HB 1 Appropriation; Department of Human Services to establish and implement youth diversion program. · pass · https://openstates.org/ms/bills/20261E/HB1/
- 2026-07-15 · voted nay · Passage as Amended · SB 2001 The Mississippi Youth Court Reform Act of 2026; enact. · pass · https://openstates.org/ms/bills/20261E/SB2001/
- 2026-04-02 · voted yea · Adopt Conference Report · SB 2474 Rare Disease Task Force; establish within the Mississippi Rare Disease Advisory Council. · pass · https://openstates.org/ms/bills/2026/SB2474/
- 2026-04-02 · voted yea · Adopt Conference Report · HB 1761 Alcoholic beverages; extend repealers relating to festival wine permits. · pass · https://openstates.org/ms/bills/2026/HB1761/
- 2026-04-02 · voted yea · Adopt Conference Report · HB 1772 Mississippi Department of Human Services; extend repealers on. · pass · https://openstates.org/ms/bills/2026/HB1772/
- 2026-04-02 · voted yea · Adopt Conference Report · SB 2917 Budget; provide for various transfers of funds, and create various special funds. · pass · https://openstates.org/ms/bills/2026/SB2917/
- 2026-04-01 · voted yea · Adopt Conference Report · HB 1330 Local Option Alcoholic Beverage Control Law; revise definition of "qualified resort area". · pass · https://openstates.org/ms/bills/2026/HB1330/
- 2026-04-01 · voted yea · Adopt Conference Report · HB 1662 Joint custody matters; create rebuttable presumption in favor of. · pass · https://openstates.org/ms/bills/2026/HB1662/
- 2026-04-01 · voted yea · Passage · HB 4120 Suffrage; restore to Charles Kenneth Landrum of Jones County. · pass · https://openstates.org/ms/bills/2026/HB4120/

## Legislation (MS 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 0 bills: 0 reached committee, 0 passed one chamber, 0 passed both, 0 became law. Cosponsored 124.

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $7,090 (State Senate Democrats median $55.5K). 100% 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.

- 2026-08-25 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenDTSimmons/status/2092384666535755986
- 2026-08-04 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/SenDTSimmons/status/2084715646592405615
- 2026-07-17 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/SenDTSimmons/status/2077969623811580044
- 2026-04-29 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/SenDTSimmons/status/2049522637072658776
- 2026-04-25 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/SenDTSimmons/status/2047881241119051954
- 2026-04-24 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion · https://x.com/SenDTSimmons/status/2047822158374531540
- 2026-03-17 · Post on X · labels: credit claiming · https://x.com/SenDTSimmons/status/2034037517918351658
- 2026-03-12 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenDTSimmons/status/2031918522901631000
- 2026-02-01 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenDTSimmons/status/2018032203528114183
- 2026-02-01 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/SenDTSimmons/status/2018049137346814359

## Links

- Official site: https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/members/senate/simmons_(12th).xml
- X: https://x.com/SenDTSimmons
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DerrickTSimmons
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/derricktsimmons/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrick-t-simmons-491577b4/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/3ea1bab4-64f2-4ff3-b0a9-e04a8caa3e9f