# Mark Obenshain

Mark Obenshain is a Republican member of the Virginia Senate for district 2.

- Party: Republican
- Seat: Virginia Senate, district 2
- Serving since: 2024-01-10
- Current term: VA 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/b5ce9d0e-c76e-4424-bb84-57ceb335dc52

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/b5ce9d0e-c76e-4424-bb84-57ceb335dc52 (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

98% of the 44 bills Obenshain sponsored got out of committee, in the top 5% of the Virginia Senate.

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

213 classified statements: 213 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State Senate Republicans average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Obenshain | State Senate Republicans average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 1.9% | 2.3% | 126 of 354 |
| Policy criticism | 17.8% | 9.5% | 68 of 354 |
| Policy discussion | 41.8% | 37.3% | 156 of 354 |
| Bipartisanship | 1.9% | 2.3% | 153 of 354 |
| Credit claiming | 6.1% | 15.4% | 257 of 354 |
| Extreme labels | 0.5% | 1.3% | 143 of 354 |

Most discussed policy areas: Government Operations and Politics 34% (State Senate Republicans 17%); Education 13% (State Senate Republicans 14%); Economics and Public Finance 11% (State Senate Republicans 12%); Energy 10% (State Senate Republicans 5.8%); Law 9.1% (State Senate Republicans 3.7%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score +0.65 (standard error 0.02), from 471 donors and 1,177 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 87% of State Senate Republicans score lower.

## Votes (VA 2025–26 session)

6,566 roll calls. Attendance 95.4% (Virginia Senate 97.8%). Party unity 97.8% (95.7%). 81 votes against the party majority.

## Legislation (VA 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 44 bills: 44 reached committee, 32 passed one chamber, 24 passed both, 16 became law. Cosponsored 113. 97.7% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Virginia Senate 90.1%; rank 2 of 40).

Recent sponsored bills:

- SR 2036: Commending Dana G. Schrad. (passed one chamber, 2026-06-23) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026S1/SR2036/
- SR 2025: Commending the Luray High School boys' basketball team. (passed one chamber, 2026-06-23) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026S1/SR2025/
- SR 144: Commending the veterans of the United States Armed Forces from Augusta County. (passed one chamber, 2026-03-25) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SR144/
- SJ 213: Commending Ryan Dean. (passed both chambers, 2026-03-14) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SJ213/
- SJ 131: Commending M. Catherine Slusher, M.D. (passed both chambers, 2026-03-05) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SJ131/
- SJ 84: Commending the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police & Foundation. (passed both chambers, 2026-02-18) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SJ84/
- SB 830: Official government materials; use of specific geographic terminology. (in committee, 2026-02-04) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SB830/
- SB 779: Eminent domain; condemnation proceedings, entry of order and recordation of certificate. (became law, 2026-04-13) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SB779/
- SB 778: Display of obscene material to a minor unlawful; penalty. (became law, 2026-04-06) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SB778/
- SB 780: Judges; maximum number in general district court in Twenty-sixth Judicial District. (in committee, 2026-02-03) https://openstates.org/va/bills/2026/SB780/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $168.7K (State Senate Republicans median $46.2K). 95% 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.

- 2026-10-15 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/MarkObenshain/status/2110880380320649699
- 2026-10-13 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/MarkObenshain/status/2110118450429620551
- 2026-10-08 · Post on X · https://x.com/https://x.com/MarkObenshain/status/2108177617295958063
- 2026-10-01 · Post on X · https://x.com/https://x.com/MarkObenshain/status/2105649219688079535
- 2026-10-01 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/MarkObenshain/status/2105735213724680343
- 2026-09-30 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/https://x.com/MarkObenshain/status/2105308765109019034
- 2026-09-28 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://x.com/MarkObenshain/status/2104562130875777141
- 2026-09-28 · Post on X · https://x.com/https://x.com/MarkObenshain/status/2104645123879670059
- 2026-09-25 · Post on X · https://x.com/https://x.com/MarkObenshain/status/2103468661872750667
- 2026-09-22 · Post on X · https://x.com/https://x.com/MarkObenshain/status/2102468356070633791

## Links

- Official site: https://apps.senate.virginia.gov/Senator/memberpage.php?id=S68
- Campaign site: https://www.markobenshain.com/
- X: https://x.com/MarkObenshain
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markobenshain
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mark.d.ob/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@obenshainforag
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markobenshain/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/b5ce9d0e-c76e-4424-bb84-57ceb335dc52