Shelly Simonds
Shelly Simonds is an American politician. She is the Democratic candidate for the 94th District of the Virginia House of Delegates and is currently serving on the School Board in Newport News, Virginia.
Early life, education, and family[edit]
In college, Shelly studied in Spain and Chile, where she became fluent in Spanish. She received Masters in Communications from Stanford University. She moved to Newport News, Virginia in 2000 with her husband Paul, a NASA engineer.
She then worked as a Spanish teacher at Hilton Elementary in Newport News, Virginia.
Political Career[edit]
School Board[edit]
In 2012, Shelly was elected to the School Board and is still an active member of the Newport News School Board.
2015 Election[edit]
Shelly Simonds was the Democratic nominee for the 94th District for the Virginia House of Delegates. She lost to David Yancey. Shelly Simonds received 42.44% of the vote and David Yancey received 57.56% of the vote..[1]
2017 Election[edit]
On November 29, Democratic candidate Shelly Simonds filed for a recount in the 94th district [2]. On December 19, the recount in the 94th district determined that Simonds defeated Republican incumbent David Yancey by one vote, which ended the 18-year Republican majority in the House of Delegates and created an even 50–50 split[3]. It was the first time in almost thirty years that a recount changed an election result in Virginia[3]. However, a three-judge panel declined to certify the results, citing a questionable ballot that had previously not been counted, which they deemed should be counted in favor of the Republican instead[4]. Judge Bryant Sugg said, "The court declares there is no winner in this election." [4] In the event of a tie in a House of Delegates election, state law says the winner is chosen by lot.[4] On December 21, James Alcorn tweeted that a random drawing would occur on December 27[5]
On December 26, the drawing was postponed after Simonds filed a legal motion challenging the validity of a ballot counted in Yancey's favor.[6] On December 28 on CNN's New Day, Simonds said, "I do have a problem with doing a game of chance now, because I do feel now I did win fair and square during the recount."[7] On December 29, Alcorn tweeted, "The State Board of Elections will convene on Thursday, January 4 at 11:00 am. Unless the court system intervenes, the Board will draw a winner for [the 94th district]."[8] In the legal case, Yancey filed paperwork arguing that Simonds had presented no grounds for a recount court to reconsider its decision.[9] On January 3, 2018, the recount panel rejected Simonds' motion, allowing the random draw to proceed as planned.[10] On January 4, the tie-breaking drawing was held and Yancey was the winner. Simonds conceded on January 10.[11] In May 2018, it was revealed that an error by local election officials caused 26 voters to cast ballots in the 93rd district when should have cast them in the district that Yancey won. Records indicate that the 17 of the 26 voters were likely to vote Democratic because they had previously voted in Democratic primaries while only one voter had voted in a Republican primary. Since the 2017 election was decided by such narrow margins, the 26 misaligned votes may have cost Democrats the seat and thus majority control in the Virginia House.[12][13]
References[edit]
- ↑ VPAP. "House of Delegates District 94".
- ↑ Nirappil, Fenit (November 29, 2017). "With control of Virginia House at stake, Democrats seek recounts in two races". The Washington Post.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pascale, Jordan. "Democrat Shelly Simonds wins Virginia House seat by 1 vote, ending GOP's 18-year majority". Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Morrison, Jim (December 20, 2017). "Virginia court tosses one-vote victory that briefly ended GOP majority in House". The Washington Post.
- ↑ Anapol, Avery (2017-12-21). "Virginia election board to pick winner of tied race by random draw". TheHill. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
- ↑ Vozzella, Laura (December 26, 2017). "Name-drawing in tied Va. House race delayed after Democrat announces court challenge". The Washington Post.
- ↑ Beavers, Olivia (2017-12-28). "Democrat in Virginia: I feel like I won 'fair and square'". TheHill. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
- ↑ "Virginia politicians trade barbs as officials reschedule random-winner drawing". NBC News. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
- ↑ Amin, Reema. "In tied 94th race, Yancey files rebuttal to Simonds reversal motions". dailypress.com. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
- ↑ Times-Dispatch, GRAHAM MOOMAW Richmond. "Judges reject Democrat's request to undo tie in Newport News House district, setting up Thursday tiebreaker". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
- ↑ Schwartzman, Paul (January 10, 2018). "Democrat who lost random drawing for Va. House seat concedes to Republican". The Washington Post.
- ↑ Vozzella, Laura; Mellnik, Ted (2018-05-13). "Va. election officials assigned 26 voters to the wrong district. It might've cost Democrats a pivotal race". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ↑ "Wrongly assigned voters found in tight Virginia House race". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
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