Mark Sickles

Mark D. Sickles (born February 18, 1957) is an American politician serving as the Delegate from the 43rd District of the Virginia House of Delegates since 2004. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Mark D. Sickles
Sickles in 2011
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
from the 43rd district
Assumed office
January 14, 2004
Preceded byThomas M. Bolvin
Personal details
Born (1957-02-18) February 18, 1957
Arlington, Virginia
Political partyDemocratic
ResidenceFranconia, Virginia
Alma materClemson University
Georgia Institute of Technology
OccupationPublic affairs
CommitteesAppropriations
Health, Welfare and Institutions
Privileges and Elections
Rules
Websitewww.marksickles.com

Sickles serves as the Chair of the Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee, Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee and as a member in the Privileges and Elections and Rules Committee.[1]

As an openly gay man, Sickles is the second openly gay person and second openly LGBT person elected to the Virginia House of Delegates and the Virginia General Assembly (after Adam Ebbin).

Sickles is one of five openly LGBT people serving in the Virginia General Assembly (alongside Adam Ebbin, Mark Levine, Dawn Adams, and Danica Roem).

Early life and education

Sickles was born in Arlington, Virginia. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Forest Management from Clemson University in 1981, a Master of Science in industrial management from Georgia Tech in 1984, and a second M.S. in Technology and Science Policy two years later.[2][3]

Sickles is a fellow with the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia.[4]

Legislative issues and bills

Tragedy struck in Fairfax County in 2018 when a nine-year-old boy was killed by a motorized classroom partition. In response, Sickles drafted legislation prohibiting anyone from operating a motorized partition when students are in a room at school unless the wall has a safety sensor installed with it. He named the bill the Wesley Charles Lipicky Act in honor of the victim. The bill passed the legislature and was signed into law in May 2019.[5]

Sickles was instrumental in the effort to advance the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in Virginia in early 2019. As the only two Democrats on the Subcommittee No. 1 of the House Privileges and Elections Committee, Mark Sickles and Schuyler VanValkenburg (D-) supported the effort make Virginia the 38th state to ratify the ERA. However, the Republicans on Subcommittee No. 1 all voted against the bills.[6]

Later, Sickles tried to bring one of the bills before the full committee, but the motion failed on another party-line vote.[7] Still, Sickles was commended for his efforts by Ratify, a leading organization working to pass the Equal Rights Amendment.[8]

Personal life

In an op-ed for The Washington Post, which noted the striking-down in the Eastern Virginia U.S. District Court of the constitutionality of the state's ban on same-sex marriage, Sickles publicly came out as gay. This made him the second openly LGBT member of the Virginia General Assembly, alongside Sen. Adam Ebbin, who was out before his election to the House in 2003.[9]

Electoral history

In 2001, Sickles ran for the House and lost by 313 votes[10] to freshman Republican Tom Bolvin, who had defeated 11-term Democrat Gladys Keating two years earlier. Sickles had been a volunteer staffer for Keating previously.[2][4]

Sickles defeated Bolvin in a 2003 rematch, 53.8%-46.1%.[11]

DateElectionCandidatePartyVotes%
Virginia House of Delegates, 43rd district
Nov 6, 2001[10] General T M Bolvin Republican 9,550 50.80
M D Sickles Democratic 9,237 49.14
Write Ins 12 0.06
Incumbent won; seat stayed Republican
Nov 4, 2003[11] General M D Sickles Democratic 7,159 53.79
T M Bolvin Republican 6,137 46.12
Write Ins 12 0.09
Incumbent lost; seat switched from Republican to Democratic
Nov 8, 2005[12] General M D Sickles Democratic 11,630 63.82
R Grignol Republican 6,571 36.06
Write Ins 23 0.13
Nov 6, 2007[13] General Mark D. Sickles Democratic 9,822 97.05
Write Ins 298 2.94
Nov 3, 2009[14] General Mark D. Sickles Democratic 10,363 56.13
Tim D. Nank Republican 8,081 43.77
Write Ins 17 0.09
Nov 8, 2011[15] General Mark D. Sickles Democratic 10,175 95.80
Write Ins 446 4.19
Nov 5, 2013[16] General Mark D. Sickles Democratic 14,799 74.41
Glenda Gail Parker Libertarian 5,090 25.59
Write Ins - -
Nov 3, 2015[17] General Mark D. Sickles Democratic 7,696 61.51
Anna Urman Republican 4,058 32.43
Paul McIlvaine Independent 398 3.18
Write Ins - -
Nov 7, 2017[18] General Mark D. Sickles Democratic 22,094 100.00
Write Ins - -

(Note: Write Ins are not included for results after 2011.)

References
  1. "Virginia House of Delegates Member Listings". virginiageneralassembly.gov. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  2. "Bio for Mark D. Sickles". Virginia House of Delegates. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  3. "Representative Mark D. Sickles (VA)". Project Vote Smart. Archived from the original on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2011-07-13.
  4. "Mark D. Sickles (D)". Washington Post. Retrieved 2011-07-13.
  5. Hogan, Susan (May 13, 2019). "One Year After Tragedy, Virginia Governor Signs School Partition Safety Legislation". NBC4 Washington. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  6. Vozzella, Laura (January 22, 2019). "Virginia House panel nixes ERA bills, in a major blow for feminist groups". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  7. Vozzella, Laura (Jan 26, 2019). "Effort to revive ERA bill fails in Virginia". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  8. "Ratify Women". Twitter. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  9. Mark D. Sickles (21 February 2014). "Virginia Del. Mark D. Sickles: A marriage ruling that counts me in". The Washington Post.
  10. "General Election- November 6, 2001". Virginia State Board of Elections. Archived from the original on December 29, 2012. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
  11. "General Election- November 4, 2003". Virginia State Board of Elections. Archived from the original on 2013-07-07. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  12. "General Election- November 8, 2005". Virginia State Board of Elections. Archived from the original on December 28, 2012. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
  13. "November 6, 2007 General Election Official Results". Virginia State Board of Elections. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  14. "November 2009 General Election Official Results". Virginia State Board of Elections. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  15. "November 2011 General Election Official Results". Virginia State Board of Elections. Archived from the original on 2013-06-16. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  16. Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2013. Ballotpedia.
  17. Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2015. Ballotpedia.
  18. Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2017. Ballotpedia.
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