Tarra Simmons
Tarra Simmons (Democratic Party) is a member of the Washington House of Representatives, representing District 23-Position 1. She assumed office on January 11, 2021.
Simmons (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Washington House of Representatives to represent District 23-Position 1. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Tarra Simmons graduated from Central Kitsap High School in 1994. Simmons earned a law degree from Seattle University in 2017. Her career experience includes working as the executive director of the Civil Survival Project, a Skadden Fellow with the Public Defender Association, and a legal intern with Columbia Legal Services.[1]
Committee assignments
2023-2024
Simmons was assigned to the following committees:
2021-2022
Simmons was assigned to the following committees:
- Civil Rights & Judiciary Committee, Vice chair
- Health Care and Wellness Committee
- Public Safety Committee
- House Rules Committee
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: Washington House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Washington House of Representatives District 23-Position 1
Incumbent Tarra Simmons defeated Kurt Robertson in the general election for Washington House of Representatives District 23-Position 1 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Tarra Simmons (D) | 64.0 | 34,020 | |
| Kurt Robertson (R) | 35.9 | 19,074 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 40 | ||
| Total votes: 53,134 | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Washington House of Representatives District 23-Position 1
Incumbent Tarra Simmons and Kurt Robertson defeated Tiffany Attrill in the primary for Washington House of Representatives District 23-Position 1 on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Tarra Simmons (D) | 60.7 | 29,433 | |
| ✔ | Kurt Robertson (R) | 30.9 | 14,973 | |
 | Tiffany Attrill (Independent) | 8.3 | 4,046 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 55 | ||
| Total votes: 48,507 | ||||
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Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Simmons in this election.
2022
See also: Washington House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Washington House of Representatives District 23-Position 1
Incumbent Tarra Simmons defeated Janell Hulst in the general election for Washington House of Representatives District 23-Position 1 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Tarra Simmons (D) | 63.8 | 45,223 | |
| Janell Hulst (R) | 36.1 | 25,588 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 56 | ||
| Total votes: 70,867 | ||||
| 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. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Washington House of Representatives District 23-Position 1
Incumbent Tarra Simmons and Janell Hulst defeated Ace Haynes in the primary for Washington House of Representatives District 23-Position 1 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Tarra Simmons (D) | 64.3 | 29,956 | |
| ✔ | Janell Hulst (R) | 30.8 | 14,338 | |
| Ace Haynes (R) | 4.8 | 2,234 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 37 | ||
| Total votes: 46,565 | ||||
| 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. | ||||
2020
See also: Washington House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Washington House of Representatives District 23-Position 1
Tarra Simmons defeated April Ferguson in the general election for Washington House of Representatives District 23-Position 1 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Tarra Simmons (D) | 61.9 | 53,154 | |
| April Ferguson (R) | 38.0 | 32,620 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 142 | ||
| Total votes: 85,916 | ||||
| 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. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Washington House of Representatives District 23-Position 1
Tarra Simmons and April Ferguson defeated Leslie Daugs, Lou Krukar, and James Beall in the primary for Washington House of Representatives District 23-Position 1 on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Tarra Simmons (D) | 45.1 | 24,191 | |
| ✔ | April Ferguson (R) | 35.2 | 18,868 | |
| Leslie Daugs (D) | 14.8 | 7,932 | |
| Lou Krukar (D) | 3.1 | 1,653 | |
| James Beall (D) | 1.7 | 889 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 57 | ||
| Total votes: 53,590 | ||||
| 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. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Grant Romaine (R)
Endorsements
To view Simmons' endorsements in the 2020 election, please click here.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Tarra Simmons did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Tarra Simmons did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Tarra Simmons completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Simmons' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Raised in Bremerton, Tarra has faced some of the biggest barriers to success and opportunity. It was with the help of this community that she was able to overcome these circumstances and become a tireless advocate for change.
From economic insecurity, to housing affordability and lack of access to healthcare, education and job skills training, these are big challenges that many people from all walks of life in her community face on a daily basis.
In 2014, Tarra decided to go to law school to learn how to make a larger impact on the community. Tarra graduated with honors and received the prestigious Skadden fellowship to help people get the legal counsel they need to move on after criminal justice involvement.
Tarra was appointed by Governor Jay Inslee to the Washington State Reentry Council where she was elected by her peers as co-chair. He appointed her to the Public Defense Advisory Board. She also serves on the Washington Supreme Court Gender and Justice Commission.
Tarra helped pass the New Hope Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation that streamlines the process for reintegration after incarceration.
In addition to being the co-founder of Civil Survival, Tarra serves on the board of the Economic Opportunity Institute and volunteers with the Central Kitsap School District to support policies that end the school to prison pipeline. She recently received Sen. Murray's Golden Tennis Shoe Award and the "Woman of Achievement" award from YWCA Kitsap County.
- Our region's economic growth should benefit all of us - not just wealthy CEOs and corporations. Tarra will fight for an economy that works for everyone.
- For Tarra, education was her pathway out of poverty. As a graduate of both Central Kitsap High School and Olympic College and public school parent, Tarra is committed to ensuring all students in our community can access quality education they need to succeed.
- A former nurse, Tarra has witnessed firsthand our broken healthcare system. As one of the leading causes of bankruptcy, Tarra knows we have a responsibility to reduce costs and increase access to quality healthcare, so no one has to worry about getting the care they need.
Here are the top areas and details:
The Economy.
-Stand with Washington workers and work to create better paying jobs with benefits
-End homelessness and increase affordable housing
-Fund affordable childcare for workers
-Tax reform that ensures the super-rich pay their fair share for the services we all depend on
Education.
-Funding for early childhood education and wrap around services for children with additional needs
-Affordable higher education
-Increased access to job training and apprenticeship programs
Healthcare
-Increased funding for behavioral healthcare, including mental health treatment and substance use disorder
-Lower the cost of prescription drugs
-Protect women's reproductive healthcare
-Affordable, comprehensive healthcare for all
Climate Change
-Reduce carbon pollution and hold fossil fuel industries accountable for protecting our clean air and water
-Increase incentives for producing cleaner fuels and energy efficient construction
-Invest in communities most impacted by climate change
Civil Rights
-Protect voting rights to ensure everyone has a voice in our democracy
-Stand up for our immigrant neighbors, family and friends
-Fight back against systemic racism and ensure people of color have a voice in the decisions that impact their communities
-Give a voice to formerly incarcerated people, find solutions to ease recovery and re-entry and end the school-to-prison pipelin
Upon graduating from Pacific Lutheran University School of Nursing in 2000, my first job was a Health Coach Consultant. For 5 years, I educated chronically ill patients in order to improve their medical outcomes and quality of life.
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.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
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Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Washington scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Washington State Legislature was in session from January 9 to April 23.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Washington State Legislature was in session from January 10 to March 10.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Washington State Legislature was in session from January 11 to April 25.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Washington House of Representatives District 23-Position 1 |
Officeholder Washington House of Representatives District 23-Position 1 |
Personal |
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Sherry Appleton (D) |
Washington House of Representatives District 23-Position 1 2021-Present |
Succeeded by - |
