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Austin Simms

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Austin Simms

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Elections and appointments
Last election

June 9, 2020

Personal
Birthplace
Beckley, W.Va.
Religion
Christianity
Contact

Austin Simms (Republican Party) ran for election to the West Virginia House of Delegates to represent District 32. He lost in the Republican primary on June 9, 2020.

Simms completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Elections

2020

See also: West Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2020

General election

General election for West Virginia House of Delegates District 32 (3 seats)

The following candidates ran in the general election for West Virginia House of Delegates District 32 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Kayla Kessinger
Kayla Kessinger (R)
 
22.6
 
10,760
Image of Tom Fast
Tom Fast (R)
 
19.0
 
9,058
Image of Austin Haynes
Austin Haynes (R)
 
17.5
 
8,341
Image of Margaret Staggers
Margaret Staggers (D)
 
15.2
 
7,264
Image of Selina Vickers
Selina Vickers (D)
 
13.2
 
6,290
Mark Hurt (D)
 
12.6
 
5,991

Total votes: 47,704
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 32 (3 seats)

Incumbent Margaret Staggers, Mark Hurt, and Selina Vickers defeated Randy Halsey in the Democratic primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 32 on June 9, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Margaret Staggers
Margaret Staggers
 
32.1
 
4,295
Mark Hurt
 
24.1
 
3,224
Image of Selina Vickers
Selina Vickers
 
24.0
 
3,218
Randy Halsey
 
19.9
 
2,661

Total votes: 13,398
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 32 (3 seats)

Incumbent Kayla Kessinger, incumbent Tom Fast, and Austin Haynes defeated Austin Simms in the Republican primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 32 on June 9, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Kayla Kessinger
Kayla Kessinger
 
31.0
 
3,124
Image of Tom Fast
Tom Fast
 
27.8
 
2,800
Image of Austin Haynes
Austin Haynes
 
25.0
 
2,521
Austin Simms Candidate Connection
 
16.2
 
1,628

Total votes: 10,073
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Austin Simms completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Simms' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

My name is Austin Simms, I am a senior at Midland Trail High School in Fayette County, WV. I like to help out in my community, spend time with friends and explore the great history of West Virginia. I live in a small town called Hilton Village in Eastern Fayette County. I have decided to enter politics to help our tight knit communities and do whatever I can to keep my classmates in West Virginia and make a good living here.
  • I will oppose any kind of tax increase on West Virginians.
  • I will fight to cut wasteful spending in our budget and urge more of that money to go into our infrastructure such as our roads.
  • I would work with both sides to develop a comprehensive plan to bring in high speed broadband internet to ALL of West Virginia.
We need to work together as one government body to cut wasteful spending in the state budget. If we would rethink much of our spending, we would have a better focus to fund and fix our roads that are literally falling apart. Broadband is another major issue we need to address in this state, we need to be accessible and available to the rest of the country. Businesses will not relocate to West Virginia if we have them cut off with the rest of the country, (internet is becoming a major way of doing business). In West Virginia, there is no longer a need for fifty-five county boards of education. With our population loss, consolidation of schools, and other issues... it is now time for regional school districts. Regional school districts would be based on population, geography location and other factors that would need the input of our educators, educational leaders etc. . It is time West Virginians keep more of what they earn as I am calling for a 10% cut to the income tax, and I will also vote against any piece of legislation that would raise taxes on our hardworking citizens.
I would love to serve in our state House of Delegates and do the best job I can do for my constituents. I want to leave a legacy that my people can be proud of!
I have been through a lot in my life, but I have never witnessed anything like the 1,000 year flood that hit West Virginia in 2016 when I was 14. I had family members lose their home and witnessed our communities almost completely under water. The main thing I learned from this disaster is that the people of West Virginia are strong and caring, and they can overcome anything.
Country Roads is always playing in my head! I am all the time finding myself humming and singing it out of no where. That song truly means a lot to me.
A big struggle in my life has been trying to keep my family together through the drug epidemic in our state. I have grown up in a broken home due to parents falling to drugs. It has led me sometimes to worry about where my next meal would come from or where I would be the next day, but I never use that struggle as an excuse to quit or slack. I want to keep going and be better than what I witnessed when first growing up. The struggle is a whole lot better now as my grandparents have raised me and gave me a good home!

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also


External links

Footnotes


Current members of the West Virginia House of Delegates
Leadership
Minority Leader:Sean Hornbuckle
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
Bill Bell (R)
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
District 13
District 14
District 15
District 16
District 17
District 18
District 19
District 20
District 21
District 22
District 23
District 24
District 25
District 26
District 27
District 28
District 29
District 30
District 31
District 32
District 33
District 34
Mark Dean (R)
District 35
District 36
S. Green (R)
District 37
District 38
District 39
District 40
District 41
District 42
District 43
District 44
Carl Roop (R)
District 45
District 46
District 47
District 48
Tom Clark (R)
District 49
District 50
District 51
District 52
District 53
District 54
District 55
JB Akers (R)
District 56
District 57
District 58
District 59
District 60
District 61
District 62
District 63
District 64
District 65
District 66
District 67
District 68
District 69
District 70
District 71
District 72
District 73
District 74
District 75
District 76
District 77
District 78
District 79
District 80
District 81
District 82
District 83
District 84
District 85
District 86
District 87
District 88
District 89
District 90
District 91
District 92
District 93
District 94
District 95
District 96
District 97
S. Anders (R)
District 98
District 99
District 100
Republican Party (91)
Democratic Party (9)