This election will be held on November 4, 2025. Incumbent Democratic Delegate Shelly Simonds faces a challenge from Republican Cynthia Scaturico and Independent John Bloom in HD-70.

Virginia's House District 70 is entirely located within Newport News. In the 2024 election it leaned Democratic by double-digit margins.

Incumbent Democrat Delegate Shelly Simonds has served in the House of Delegates since 2020. Simonds previously served the Newport News Public School system as both a teacher and later an elected school board director. She has a B.A. in International Relations and Affairs from Bucknell University as well as an M.A. in Communications and Media Studies from Stanford University. She has community leadership experience in environmental advocacy. She currently resides in the Denbigh area and is a mother to two daughters attending university.
Committee Assignments: Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources; Counties, Cities and Towns; Education (Vice Chair; K-12 Subcommittee Chair), Finance (Subcommittee #3)

Constitutional Amendment
- Delegate Simonds co-sponsored a Constitutional Amendment to enshrine abortion rights in Virginia’s Constitution.
- She co-sponsored a Constitutional Amendment to restore voting rights to returning citizens.
- She co-sponsored a Constitutional Amendment to enshrine equal marriage rights in Virginia’s Constitution.

Education
Delegate Simonds focuses on STEM education and career and technical education to prepare students for the workforce. She advocates for increasing teacher pay. She voted against a forced outing bill targeting transgender students.

Economy and Inflation
- Co-patroned a bill to establish paid family and medical leave
- Co-patroned a bill to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2027 
- Voted to remove the minimum wage exemption for farmworkers
- Co-sponsored a bill to repeal prohibitions on collective bargaining for public employees
- Voted to establish the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act

Health and Human Services
Delegate Simonds fights to expand the accessibility and affordability of health care, treatment, and medicine in Virginia, including lowering prescription drug costs, building on her 2021 legislative win to enhance telehealth access, and making diagnostic and preventative medicine more accessible.

She voted in favor of a bill to establish the right to access and use FDA-approved birth control, as well as a bill to require state health insurance plans to cover all FDA-approved birth control.

Other Issues
- Delegate Simonds supports comprehensive campaign finance reform and voted in favor of a bill to prohibit the use of campaign funds for personal expenses.
- Voted to establish the Income-Qualified Energy Efficiency and Weatherization Task Force
- Co-sponsored a bill to establish Gun Free Zones in Capitol Square and public institutions of higher education
- Voted to prohibit the manufacture, sale, or possession of assault-style weapons
- Voted to authorize Ranked Choice Voting for certain local elections.
- Co-sponsored a bill to establish regulations for “high-risk” AI

The Opposition

Republican Cynthia Scaturico grew up in Lincoln, Illinois. She is a frontline supervisor in food manufacturing and holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Robert Morris College. Scaturico serves as 1st Vice President of the Hampton Roads Republican Women’s Club. She is a mother of three and grandmother to six. 

Scaturico advocates for parental rights regarding how to raise and educate children. She wants to keep Virginia as a right-to-work state. Scaturico advocates for tougher penalties for human trafficking offenses and supports increasing funding for local police. She pushes for securing borders and is committed to defending 2nd Amendment rights.

John Bloom (Constitution Party) is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University with a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering. He also holds an M.S. in Environmental Technology. He retired from the Navy and the civilian workforce, where he worked as a nuclear engineer and health physicist. Currently, he works as a substitute teacher in the Newport News School District and as a railroad conductor and ride operator at Busch Gardens. He ran for the 95th District House of Delegates seat in 2013. In 2015, he failed to qualify for the ballot for the 1st District State Senate seat. He also ran for that same seat during the 2016 Special General Election. In 2024, he ran for Newport New City School Board (North). He is a self-described “recovering Republican.”

Bloom believes the top issue facing Newport News Public Schools is students sleeping in class.

Recommendation

Based on her history of advocating for quality public education, workers' rights, and expanding affordable healthcare, Delegate Shelly Simonds is the progressive candidate in this race.