In the hottest House race, some old-fashioned attitudes

Oct. 25--One is known for sitting alone in the House of Delegates chamber long after everyone else has left, still awestruck at being a member of the oldest legislature on the continent. The other got her political start as a PTA president, proud that a potluck she helped launch to celebrate diversity at Hines Middle School remains a tradition.

Del. David Yancey, R-Newport News, and Democratic challenger Shelly Simonds, the two candidates in the big-money race for the most competitive district in Virginia, the 94th, covering most of Newport News between the shipyard and Fort Eustis, are themselves pretty old-fashioned political types.

Both see themselves as pragmatic moderates, though opponents sometimes disagree. Both found inspiration to go into politics in schools -- in civics and history classes for Yancey, or by teaching Spanish, volunteering for the PTA and serving on the Newport News School Board for Simonds.

And both find that daily life on the Peninsula shapes what they hope to do in Richmond.

Simonds feels the Hines potluck drew attention to how many different cultures are represented at the school, something parents now see as a strength.

"I like to look at what's good, and build from that," she said.

Yancey, a lifelong resident of Newport News, strikes much the same tone.

"I think Newport News can be a beacon of opportunity, of optimism, of pragmatism," he said. "I coach high school rugby, boys and girls, and I can tell you I've never heard a kid say, 'I'm dreaming of a life of quiet desperation.'"

Neither, however, is blind to the city's challenges.

"When I moved here, I was shocked that I couldn't simply walk my daughters to school safely because there are no sidewalks," said Simonds, explaining her concern that gaps in the way Virginia plans for transportation and land-use issues harms the environment. Those green issues are more critical as the state tries to tackle the challenge of rising sea levels, she said.

Yancey recalls what cops told him during night-shift ride-alongs about prostitution and pimping -- and the detailed briefings about gaps in the law Newport News police and prosecutors gave him when he followed up. He invited those same officers to Richmond when he and two other legislators made their case for a new human-trafficking law this year.

"They were right there when legislators asked, 'Well would this work? Would that help?'" Yancey said. The result was a tough new law cracking down on trafficking.

Yancey, the first Peninsula member in decades to sit on powerful Commerce and Labor Committee, has pushed for issues his fellow Republicans shun, including efforts to crack down on high interest rate loans that leave many low-income Virginians drowning in debt that they can't pay off.

He also introduced bills to prevent employers from disciplining or firing employees who need to take a reasonable amount of time off after domestic abuse or a sexual assault to talk to police, go to court or get medical treatment, and to ensure that new mothers have a place at work where they can privately express breast milk, after hearing from constituents that both were concerns.

"I felt here was something we could to do help foster the workforce, to let people say, 'I feel part of something special in the workforce,'" Yancey said.

Yancey struggled with the issue of Medicaid expansion, sticking with GOP leaders as he had in past years with some of the hot-button social issues, including the 2012 law requiring women get a fetal ultrasound before an abortion.

Simonds, a strong supporter of Medicaid expansion, thinks Yancey's votes show he is out of step with the district.

She believes using Affordable Care Act funds to expand Medicaid, to cover 400,000 low-income Virginians who don't have health insurance now, could fuel an expansion of services for the steadily growing population of older Virginians. In addition, a fresh look at whether all the Medicaid recipients now getting costly care in nursing homes might get better care in the community would also free up funds for badly needed services, she argues.

Simonds would like to see schools step up efforts on career and technical education and with science, math and technology courses, efforts she thinks could be funded with current resources if they were better directed.

And she believes the Newport News school system's summer enrichment program this year points the way to another initiative she would like the General Assembly to take up: giving local systems more freedom and resources to plan longer days or academic years or enrichment programs.

Her time with the League of Conservation Voters taught her how the General Assembly operates -- and is why she says she would push for more transparency, noting that she's all too familiar with the practice that the Transparency Virginia coalition reported earlier this year of unannounced subcommittee meetings that kill legislation on voice votes so that no legislator's position is ever known for sure.

She favors closing loopholes in the Freedom of Information Act that let officials keep records and meetings secret.

Yancey says he would like to work on legislation to tackle a new loophole opened by the Virginia Supreme Court when it nullified a section of the law that requires officials to release all portions of a record that do not include information state law allows them to keep secret.

Simonds says building consensus has been important in her time on the School Board and in the PTA, and says she can bring that same emphasis to the often highly partisan General Assembly.

Yancey and Democratic Del. Monty Mason, D-Williamsburg, won praise from Gov. Terry McAuliffe for their work on legislation this year that clears the way for community colleges to give credit for military training programs. Yancey's focus on business legislation also led to his successful push this year for a bill that recognizes historically black colleges and universities as minority owned enterprises when they seek state contracts, as well as a measure meant to encourage investment in solar energy by allowing utilities to include the costs of them in the rates they charge customers.

Ress can be reached by telephone at 757-247-4535.

Shelly Simonds

Democrat

Age: 47

Education: B.A. Bucknell University, M.A. Stanford University

Elected office: Newport News School Board, 2012 to present

Occupation: Rehabs and rents houses

Family: Married to Paul Danehy; two daughters, 16 and 13

David Yancey

Republican

Age: 43

Education: B.A., University of Georgia

Occupation: Owns a real estate firm and a commercial fishing venture.

Elected office: House of Delegates, 2012 to present

Family: Single

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