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Virginia’s 13th District Del. Marcus Simon Emphasizes Every Voice Be Heard

Virginia’s 13th District Del. Marcus Simon Emphasizes Every Voice Be Heard
Del. Marcus Simon is happy to chat at the Falls Church City Democratic Committee informational tent during the Falls Church Festival, Sept. 14. Photo by Chris Jones.

During the Sept. 14 Falls Church Festival, Virginia’s 13th District House of Delegates Representative, Marcus Simon (D) – representing in Richmond, the City of Falls Church and a portion of Fairfax County – was spotted at the Falls Church City Democratic Committee informational tent chatting amiably with passersby. 

The Falls Church Independent checked in with Del. Simon to enquire about his views of the City of Falls Church’s progress, his policy priorities in Richmond, and the political landscape heading into the Nov. 5 elections. 

In Virginia’s House of Delegates, Simon is currently serving as the Democratic Floor Leader for the House Democratic Caucus. His committee assignments include: Finance, Courts of Justice, Public Safety, and Communications, Technology and Innovation. He’s appointed to the Freedom of Information Advisory Council and was appointed to the 2021 Virginia Redistricting Commission. 

Del. Marcus Simon at work in the Richmond State House. Facebook photo.

Del. Simon’s Background

Marcus Simon’s father, Sam Simon, was “a freshly minted young lawyer who arrived in the Nation's Capital on a mission to change the world for the better. He went to work with consumer advocate Ralph Nader and his new Public Interest Research Group,” according to marcussimon.com. “Growing up the son of one of the original Nader's Raiders, Marcus was impressed early in life with the value of public service and the importance of leaving the world a better place than he found it.”

Ralph Nader (pictured) and his "Nader's Raiders" helped establish a number of advocacy organizations, most notably Public Citizen, and took on issues such as nuclear safety, international trade, regulation of insecticides, meat processing, pension reform, land use, and banking," per Britannica.

Marcus Simon is “a lifelong resident of Fairfax County, Virginia where he currently resides with his wife Rachel, and two children, Emily and Zachary. Before graduating from McLean High School in 1988, [he] attended Longfellow Intermediate and both Kent Gardens and Haycock elementary,” according to Virginia Dems’ website

For college, Simon attended New York University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Middle Eastern Studies and Journalism in 1992.   

After graduation, Simon worked as a legislative aide to his predecessor in the Virginia House of Delegates, Rep. Jim Scott (D). In 1995, Simon went to work for Katherine Hanley, chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. In the evenings, he studied law and received his Juris Doctorate (JD) from the American University Washington College of Law in 1999.

Map of Virginia's 13 District. Courtesy vpap.org.

For the next three years, Simon served in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the U.S. Army. “As an Army Captain, [Simon] served as a prosecutor where he handled officer misconduct cases and all criminal cases on Ft. Myer, Ft. McNair, and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center,” according to Virginia Dems. 

By 2003, Simon pivoted from prosecutorial work to real estate law, eventually forming with his colleagues the law firm of Leggett, Simon, Freemyers & Lyon, PLC, specializing in residential and commercial real estate. Simon is a partner in the firm.

When Del. Scott announced in 2013 he would not seek reelection to his 13th District seat, he endorsed Simon to succeed him. In the 2013 Virginia House of Delegates elections, Simon defeated his Republican challenger, W. Brad Tidwell, by more than twice the number of votes cast (13,726 vs. 5,965). 

Interview with Del. Marcus Simon

We asked Del. Simon what brought him out to the festival. “I come out here every year for this,” he said. “It’s a great event. It’s the Taste of Falls Church. So, it’s a great opportunity to meet my neighbors, and other members of the community walking by and to get a taste of all the different restaurants and get the flavor of the restaurant scene here in Falls Church. One of my favorite things about the City is all the different places we have to eat. And also the weather’s just perfect today.”

So, how is Del. Simon feeling about Falls Church these days? “It’s doing really well,” he said. “I mean, Falls Church is really developing into a Little City with all the conveniences of a Big City and it still has that small town feeling. And events like this really sort of bring that home. I keep bumping into people I know and have known over the years and everybody seems to know each other, as neighbors only a couple of blocks apart. So I’m feeling really good about it.”

Del. Marcus Simon. Courtesy marcussimon.com.

And what are the biggest challenges facing the City these days as it grows? “That’s a good question,” he said. “I think the City’s being really well run. It’s remarkable that you guys are able to cut your tax rate this year while other places like Fairfax, Prince William County, and others were having to deal with property tax rate increases.”

“I think making sure that the whole community feels like they have a voice in the development that takes place is probably a challenge, and making sure you get buy-in, because you don’t want folks to feel steamrolled by the development that’s happening,” he continued. “I think the development is good for the community and for the tax base. It helps make the neighborhoods more vibrant. But, you’ve got to make sure everybody feels like they’ve had the opportunity to participate in that process and that we all agree that that’s the outcome we’re looking for. And, again, a lot of local government is very process-oriented and people will accept an outcome they didn’t necessarily want if they feel like the processes to get there were fair.... We want to make sure everybody in the City feels like their voices, and what they want the future to look like, are being heard.”

And Simon’s top priorities in Richmond? “In Richmond, we have a divided government. So we can't be too ambitious,” Simon said. “So it’s mostly about making sure things continue to run well in the nuts and bolts of local government. Making sure we continue to fund our schools and our school systems. Making sure the localities get the help from the state they need.”

“Falls Church – being a well-to-do locality – sometimes feels like it’s on the short end of the stick funding-wise," Simon continued. "So, we want to make sure we get all the funds we can up here to support schools and infrastructure. Storm water runoff is a big deal here in the City and all over the place. Some of it is a byproduct of that development. You have more impervious surfaces, so we’ve got to figure out how we deal with that. So, really, it’s sort of the care-and-feeding, and making sure the basics are being done.”

“We did a lot in 2020 and 2021 on some of the big social issues, for lack of a better term,” Simon said. “We did a lot on gun violence prevention. We did a lot to protect a woman’s right to choose and things like that. We’re not going to get much further than that with the divided government, but we do have to make sure we get the basics that affect our lives on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis taken care of.”

And what message does Simon want to put out prior to the Nov. 5 elections? “You know, you’ve got to get out and vote. You want to be heard,” he said. “As I was saying earlier about process, you can’t complain if you didn’t get out and cast your vote. And every vote is going to count this year. I think polls show – it’s certainly widening a little bit – but, Virginia is certainly going to be an important state in the presidential election and our votes count. Sometimes the way our districts are leaning toward one party or another, it may feel like your vote for Marcus Simon may not matter since there may not be much opposition, but all those votes go into one big statewide bucket to see who gets Virginia’s electoral votes, so every vote counts. So, get out there and make sure you're exercising your franchise.”

And is Simon endorsing the Harris-Walz ticket? “Yes. I am a big Harris-Walz person, like a true-blue Democrat,” Simon said. “And I do think we’ve got a great message about protecting our freedoms and democracy and bringing some joy back to things. Bringing us together rather than trying to tear us apart. It’s really so important.”


By Christopher Jones