# Shelly Simonds

Shelly Simonds is a Democratic member of the Virginia House for district 70.

- Party: Democrat
- Seat: Virginia House, district 70
- Serving since: 2024-01-10
- Current term: VA 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/8329b3a6-9d6f-427e-9342-e53277e7c6ff

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/8329b3a6-9d6f-427e-9342-e53277e7c6ff (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

Simonds sits at −0.90 on the CSIP scale, more liberal than 84% of State House Democrats.

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

151 classified statements: 151 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 | Simonds | State House Democrats average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 0.7% | 2.5% | 352 of 764 |
| Policy criticism | 11.3% | 10.4% | 277 of 764 |
| Policy discussion | 70.2% | 39.2% | 44 of 764 |
| Bipartisanship | 3.3% | 2.9% | 236 of 764 |
| Credit claiming | 19.9% | 14.4% | 238 of 764 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 1.0% | 543 of 764 |

Most discussed policy areas: Education 25% (State House Democrats 15%); Economics and Public Finance 18% (State House Democrats 11%); Labor and Employment 13% (State House Democrats 5.7%); Health 12% (State House Democrats 15%); Families 10% (State House Democrats 5.0%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score −0.90 (standard error 0.02), from 1,075 donors and 1,197 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 16% of State House Democrats score lower.

## Votes (VA 2025–26 session)

3,859 roll calls. Attendance 99.9% (Virginia House 98.2%). Party unity 99.4% (96.5%). 9 votes against the party majority.

## Legislation (VA 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 54 bills: 52 reached committee, 35 passed one chamber, 19 passed both, 16 became law. Cosponsored 208. 88.9% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Virginia House 84.4%; rank 34 of 98).

Recent sponsored bills:

- HR 435: Commending Angela York. (passed one chamber, 2026-03-13) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/HR435/
- HR 324: Commending the Phi Beta Kappa Society. (passed one chamber, 2026-03-10) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/HR324/
- HR 326: Celebrating the life of Andrew Thomas Olaisen. (introduced, 2026-03-10) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/HR326/
- HR 325: Celebrating the life of Barbara Drucker Smith. (introduced, 2026-03-10) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/HR325/
- HB 1465: Blue catfish; marketing & production, Marine Prod. Board to establish full-time equivalent position. (passed one chamber, 2026-03-04) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/HB1465/
- HB 1465: Blue catfish; marketing & production, Marine Prod. Board to establish full-time equivalent position. (passed one chamber, 2026-07-21) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2027/HB1465/
- HB 596: Wildlife Corridor Action Plan; interagency implementation group, report. (in committee, 2026-02-18) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/HB596/
- HB 840: Restaurants; exempts certain facilities or programs. (became law, 2026-04-06) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/HB840/
- HB 598: Film industry community zones; local designation. (in committee, 2026-02-18) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/HB598/
- HB 597: Wildlife Corridor Grant Fund; created, voluntary contributions, report. (became law, 2026-04-13) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/HB597/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $142.3K (State House Democrats median $40.4K). 82% 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.

- 2026-10-16 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/https://x.com/shelly_simonds/status/2110892697666085350
- 2026-10-14 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/shelly_simonds/status/2110389445832622360
- 2026-10-14 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/shelly_simonds/status/2110391397790457967
- 2026-10-09 · Post on X · https://x.com/https://x.com/shelly_simonds/status/2108550780248895606
- 2026-10-09 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/shelly_simonds/status/2108552087512764542
- 2026-10-09 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/shelly_simonds/status/2108552640447566293
- 2026-10-07 · Post on X · https://x.com/https://x.com/shelly_simonds/status/2107913513666535462
- 2026-10-06 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/shelly_simonds/status/2107464519152791960
- 2026-10-06 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/shelly_simonds/status/2107468157912789249
- 2026-10-06 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/shelly_simonds/status/2107475532120023358

## Links

- Official site: https://virginiageneralassembly.gov/house/members/members.php?id=H0323
- Campaign site: https://simondsfordelegate.com/
- X: https://x.com/shelly_simonds
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simondsfordelegate
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shellysimonds/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@del.shellysimonds8157
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelly-simonds-b45a3080/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/8329b3a6-9d6f-427e-9342-e53277e7c6ff