WASHINGTON — Democratic Delegate Shelly Simonds won a critical race in Virginia HD-94. Before she flipped this district red to blue in 2019, Simonds’ 2017 tied race came down to infamously drawing a name out of a film canister and ultimately determined control of the House of Delegates. This enormous victory shows that HD-94 continues to move towards Democrats and that they reject the radical, right-wing politics of today’s GOP. She defeated Russ Harper, an anti-vaxxer who equated COVID-19 vaccination outreach with Nazism.
“Delegate Shelly Simonds is a fearless advocate for her district,” said Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Jessica Post. “After losing this seat in 2017 due to pure chance, Shelly came back stronger than ever to win in 2019 and it’s clear voters like what they see. Simonds will continue to fight for students and families in her community while pushing for higher teacher pay, a stronger economy, and quality health care.”
The DLCC and its affiliated groups invested in Virginia to support candidates like Delegate Shelly Simonds and provided critical political guidance, strategic planning, data analysis, and messaging support — all of which proved to be successful with the Democratic victory in this race.
A teacher for much of her career, Shelly Simonds knows firsthand the needs of students and those in the community. She flipped this seat blue in 2019 after her 2017 race was infamously tied and has been hard at work for Virginians in the House ever since. Shelly plans to continue her life’s work of pushing for higher teacher pay, a stronger economy, and quality health care.
The commonwealth has become a model for passing progressive legislation including making child care more affordable for working families, strengthening voting rights, passing sweeping criminal justice reform measures, creating tuition-free community college programs, raising the minimum wage, ending surprise medical billing, banning LGBTQ discrimination, providing eviction and utility aid, and making Virginia the “Top State for Business” while strengthening workers’ pay, benefits, and working conditions.
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