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Austin Simms
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
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 | ||
| ✔ |  | Kayla Kessinger (R) | 22.6 | 10,760 |
| ✔ |  | Tom Fast (R) | 19.0 | 9,058 |
| ✔ |  | Austin Haynes (R) | 17.5 | 8,341 |
 | Margaret Staggers (D) | 15.2 | 7,264 | |
 | Selina Vickers (D) | 13.2 | 6,290 | |
| Mark Hurt (D) | 12.6 | 5,991 | ||
| Total votes: 47,704 | |||
 = 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. | ||||
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 | ||
| ✔ | | Margaret Staggers | 32.1 | 4,295 |
| ✔ | Mark Hurt | 24.1 | 3,224 | |
| ✔ | | Selina Vickers | 24.0 | 3,218 |
| Randy Halsey | 19.9 | 2,661 | ||
| Total votes: 13,398 | |||
| = 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 | ||
| ✔ | | Kayla Kessinger | 31.0 | 3,124 |
| ✔ | | Tom Fast | 27.8 | 2,800 |
| ✔ | | Austin Haynes | 25.0 | 2,521 |
| Austin Simms | 16.2 | 1,628 | ||
| Total votes: 10,073 | |||
| = 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
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.
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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
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
Current members of the West Virginia House of Delegates
Leadership
Minority Leader:Sean Hornbuckle
Representatives
District 1
Pat McGeehan (R)
District 2
Mark Zatezalo (R)
District 3
Jimmy Willis (R)
District 4
Bill Flanigan (R)
District 5
Shawn Fluharty (D)
District 6
Jeffrey Stephens (R)
District 7
Charles Sheedy (R)
District 8
Bill Bell (R)
District 9
Trenton Barnhart (R)
District 10
District 11
Bob Fehrenbacher (R)
District 12
Vernon Criss (R)
District 13
Scot Heckert (R)
District 14
Dave Foggin (R)
District 15
Erica Moore (R)
District 16
Joe Parsons (R)
District 17
Jonathan Pinson (R)
District 18
Jim Butler (R)
District 19
Kathie Crouse (R)
District 20
Sarah Drennan (R)
District 21
Jarred Cannon (R)
District 22
Daniel Linville (R)
District 23
Evan Worrell (R)
District 24
Patrick Lucas (R)
District 25
Sean Hornbuckle (D)
District 26
Matthew Rohrbach (R)
District 27
Michael Amos (R)
District 28
Ryan Browning (R)
District 29
Henry Dillon (R)
District 30
Jeff Eldridge (R)
District 31
District 32
Josh Holstein (R)
District 33
Jordan Bridges (R)
District 34
Mark Dean (R)
District 35
Adam Vance (R)
District 36
S. Green (R)
District 37
Marty Gearheart (R)
District 38
Joe Ellington (R)
District 39
Doug Smith (R)
District 40
Roy Cooper (R)
District 41
Jordan Maynor (R)
District 42
Brandon Steele (R)
District 43
District 44
Carl Roop (R)
District 45
Eric Brooks (R)
District 46
Jeff Campbell (R)
District 47
Denny Canterbury (R)
District 48
Tom Clark (R)
District 49
Stanley Adkins (R)
District 50
David Pritt (R)
District 51
Marshall Clay (R)
District 52
Tresa Howell (R)
District 53
Tristan Leavitt (R)
District 54
Mike Pushkin (D)
District 55
JB Akers (R)
District 56
Kayla Young (D)
District 57
Hollis Lewis (D)
District 58
Walter Hall (R)
District 59
Andy Shamblin (R)
District 60
Dana Ferrell (R)
District 61
Dean Jeffries (R)
District 62
Roger Hanshaw (R)
District 63
District 64
Adam Burkhammer (R)
District 65
Carl Martin (R)
District 66
Jonathan Kyle (R)
District 67
District 68
Chris Phillips (R)
District 69
Keith Marple (R)
District 70
Mickey Petitto (R)
District 71
Laura Kimble (R)
District 72
Clay Riley (R)
District 73
Bryan Smith (R)
District 74
Mike DeVault (R)
District 75
Phil Mallow (R)
District 76
Rick Garcia (D)
District 77
Joe Statler (R)
District 78
Eugene Chiarelli (R)
District 79
Evan Hansen (D)
District 80
John Williams (D)
District 81
Anitra Hamilton (D)
District 82
David McCormick (R)
District 83
George Street (R)
District 84
D.R. Jennings (R)
District 85
John Paul Hott (R)
District 86
Bryan Ward (R)
District 87
Gary Howell (R)
District 88
Rick Hillenbrand (R)
District 89
David Cannon (R)
District 90
George Miller (R)
District 91
Ian Masters (R)
District 92
Michael Hite (R)
District 93
Michael Hornby (R)
District 94
Larry Kump (R)
District 95
Charles Horst (R)
District 96
Lisa White (R)
District 97
S. Anders (R)
District 98
Joe Funkhouser (R)
District 99
Wayne Clark (R)
District 100
William Ridenour (R)
Republican Party (91)
Democratic Party (9)
