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Mark D. Sickles
Mark D. Sickles
	Sickles in 2011
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; January 14, 2004
Preceded by	Thomas M. Bolvin
Constituency	43rd district (2004–2024); 17th district (2024–present)
Personal details
Born	February 18, 1957 (age 67); Arlington County, Virginia, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Residence	Franconia, Virginia
Alma mater	Clemson University; Georgia Institute of Technology
Occupation	Public affairs
Committees	Appropriations; Health, Welfare and Institutions; Privileges and Elections; Rules
Website	www.marksickles.com

Mark D. Sickles (born February 18, 1957) is an American politician serving as the Delegate from the 17rd District of the Virginia House of Delegates. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

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 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]

Date	Election	Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Virginia House of Delegates, 43rd district
Nov 6, 2001^[10]	General	Tom Bolvin	Republican	9,550	50.80
		Mark D. Sickles	Democratic	9,237	49.14
		Write Ins		12	0.06
		Incumbent won; seat stayed Republican
Nov 4, 2003^[11]	General	Mark Sickles	Democratic	7,159	53.79
		Tom Bolvin	Republican	6,137	46.12
		Write Ins		12	0.09
		Incumbent lost; seat switched from Republican to Democratic
Nov 8, 2005^[12]	General	Mark D. Sickles	Democratic	11,630	63.82
		Ronald Grignol	Republican	6,571	36.06
		Write Ins		23	0.13
Nov 6, 2007^[13]	General	Mark D. Sickles	Democratic	9,822	97.05
Nov 6, 2007^[13]	General	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
Nov 8, 2011^[15]	General	Write Ins		446	4.19
Nov 5, 2013^[16]	General	Mark D. Sickles	Democratic	14,799	73.47
		Gail Parker	Independent Green	5,090	25.27
		Write Ins		252	1.25
Nov 3, 2015^[17]	General	Mark D. Sickles	Democratic	7,696	63.25
		Anna Urman	Republican	4,058	33.35
		Paul McIlvaine	Independent	398	3.27
		Write Ins		14	0.12
Nov 7, 2017^[18]	General	Mark D. Sickles	Democratic	22,094	93.34
Nov 7, 2017^[18]	General	Write Ins		1,576	6.65
Nov 5, 2019^[19]	General	Mark D. Sickles	Democratic	15,939	77.8
		Gail Parker	Independent	4,217	20.59
		Write Ins		330	1.61
Nov 2, 2021^[20]	General	Mark D. Sickles	Democratic	22,447	70.02
		Brenton Hammond	Republican	9,502	29.07
		Write Ins		40	0.01
Nov 7, 2023^[21]	General	Mark D. Sickles	Democratic	17,931	92.2
Nov 7, 2023^[21]		Write Ins		1,521	7.8

References

^ "Virginia House of Delegates Member Listings". virginiageneralassembly.gov. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
^ ^a ^b "Bio for Mark D. Sickles". Virginia House of Delegates. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
^ "Representative Mark D. Sickles (VA)". Project Vote Smart. Archived from the original on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2011-07-13.
^ ^a ^b "Mark D. Sickles (D)". Washington Post. Retrieved 2011-07-13.
^ Hogan, Susan (May 13, 2019). "One Year After Tragedy, Virginia Governor Signs School Partition Safety Legislation". NBC4 Washington. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
^ 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.
^ Vozzella, Laura (Jan 26, 2019). "Effort to revive ERA bill fails in Virginia". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
^ "Ratify Women". Twitter. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
^ Mark D. Sickles (21 February 2014). "Virginia Del. Mark D. Sickles: A marriage ruling that counts me in". The Washington Post.
^ ^a ^b "General Election- November 6, 2001". Virginia State Board of Elections. Archived from the original on December 29, 2012. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
^ ^a ^b "General Election- November 4, 2003". Virginia State Board of Elections. Archived from the original on 2013-07-07. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
^ "General Election- November 8, 2005". Virginia State Board of Elections. Archived from the original on December 28, 2012. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
^ "November 6, 2007 General Election Official Results". Virginia State Board of Elections. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
^ "November 2009 General Election Official Results". Virginia State Board of Elections. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
^ "November 2011 General Election Official Results". Virginia State Board of Elections. Archived from the original on 2013-06-16. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
^ "2013 November General". historical.elections.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
^ "2015 November General". historical.elections.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
^ "2017 November General". historical.elections.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
^ "2019 November General". historical.elections.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
^ "2021 November General". results.elections.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2021-11-16.
^ "Mark Sickles". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-03-13.