Share
Virginia House of Delegates
Debra Gardner
House of Delegates — District 76
Democrat
Campaign Website →
RESOLUTE Citizen Score
0
/ 100
F
Raw: 0 of 48 dynamic max
· 24 of 49 answered
State tier49 of 50 rubric questions apply at this office level — federal-only questions are marked N/A and excluded from the dynamic max. How tier grading works →
Last verified: · from claim evidence
✝ God First
0/ 70
🏛️ State First
0/ 30
National Rank
#5,838 of 9,024 · bottom 35.3% among candidates with at least one scored answer
See the full rankings →Contact This Official
Reach out directly. Your voice matters. Proverbs 29:2 — When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.
Next Election
November 2, 2027
General · Seat up at next election
— until
Registration deadline: 2026-10-13
Early voting: 2026-09-18 – 2026-10-31
State elections office: (804) 864-8901
Voter status: Check registration
State elections site: Virginia Department of Elections
Official Profile
Religion: Baptist (per published biography; no congregation named)
Background: VA Delegate, HD-76 (part of Chesterfield County); first elected 2023, re-elected Nov 4 2025. Career social worker; former Chief Deputy Director of the VA Dept. of Corrections; former Richmond Director of Social/Justice Services. MPA Virginia Commonwealth University; BA Sociology, NC Central. Chairs the HHS Behavioral Health subcommittee; sits on Public Safety (incl. Firearms subcommittee).
VA Delegate, HD-76 (Chesterfield); Baptist; in office since 2024, re-elected Nov 2025. [2026-06 RESOLUTE refinement, state tier] Progressive HARD record. Co-patron/sponsor of all three progressive constitutional amendments in the 2025 first reference: HJR1 (reproductive freedom), HJ9 (same-sex marriage), HJR2 (felon voting restoration) -- all passed the House on party-line votes she voted for as a co-patron. ReproRising Virginia graded her 'A'/Reproductive Freedom Leader. On guns, Giffords endorsed her on stated positions to ban assault weapons, strengthen the red-flag law, and improve background checks; Everytown spent ~$22.6k on her 2021 campaign. Patroned a tipped-wage/wage-theft study bill (HB335, vetoed). No cross-party deviation found. Family-sovereignty, Christian-liberty, federal-overreach, and immigration cells have no on-point cited record -> null, not inferred.
Category Breakdown
Candidate affirms life begins at conception and personhood from conception
1 claim
On 14 January 2025, the Virginia House passed HJR 1 — the Right to Reproductive Freedom constitutional amendment — 51-48 on a strict party-line vote, with all 51 Democrats voting yes. Gardner (D-District 76), first elected in November 2023 and serving her first full term, voted yes along with her entire caucus. The amendment would enshrine a sweeping constitutional right to abortion at all stages of pregnancy in Virginia law, foreclosing any life-from-conception recognition.
- VPM — Virginia Public MediaLean Left
- BallotpediaCenter
- BallotpediaCenter
Candidate has voted for or sponsored state legislation moving toward abortion abolition (e.g., heartbeat ban, total ban) — not merely restrictions
FALSE (0)[1]
Candidate opposes state funding for embryonic stem-cell research and supports state IVF embryo-protection laws
Not yet verified
Candidate opposes state physician-assisted suicide laws and opposes state Medicaid death-panel rationing
Not yet verified
FEC / state campaign-finance search found no abortion-industry PAC contributions for state-legislative or statewide-office campaigns (as of the cited search date)
Not yet verified
Candidate affirms marriage as exclusively the lifelong union of one man and one woman as instituted by God
FALSE (0)[2]
Candidate opposes state recognition of same-sex marriage / civil unions / domestic partnerships, and supports state non-recognition resolutions where federally permitted
Not yet verified
1 claim
On 14 January 2025, the Virginia House passed HJR 9 — the Marriage Equality constitutional amendment — by 58-35, with all 51 House Democrats (including Gardner) voting yes. The amendment would permanently write same-sex marriage into Virginia's constitution, directly rejecting the one-man-one-woman definition the rubric requires.
- VPM — Virginia Public MediaLean Left
- BallotpediaCenter
- Virginia Public Access ProjectReference
Candidate has voted for state legislation affirming biological sex (bathroom/locker access, sports participation, minor gender-procedure bans)
Candidate supports state no-fault divorce reform and pro-marriage policy (covenant marriage option, waiting periods, etc.)
Not yet verified
Candidate opposes promotion of LGBTQ+ identity in state-funded schools, state agencies, and state corporate-partnership programs
FALSE (0)[2]
Candidate has voted for state school-choice (vouchers, ESAs, charter expansion) and supports state homeschool freedom statutes
Candidate has voted for state law requiring parental notification + consent on minors' medical, mental-health, and gender interventions (incl. school counseling referrals)
Candidate has voted for state law restricting CRT/SOGI/comprehensive-sex-ed/gender-ideology curricula in K-12
Candidate has voted for state age-verification laws on pornographic content and state criminal penalties for sexualizing minors
Candidate affirms the right to publicly profess Christ in all spheres (workplace, military, public office, schools)
Candidate has voted for state conscience-exemption laws (state RFRA, medical-professional carve-outs, business-owner protections)
Candidate opposes state-level pronoun mandates + state 'hate speech' laws restricting Christian conviction
Candidate supports state public-square Christian display protections + state legislative prayer + state Sunday-closure laws
Candidate opposes state-funded promotion of non-Christian religious displays/curricula/holidays in state institutions
Not yet verified
Candidate has voted for state law protecting cash as legal tender, opposing state-level CBDC pilot programs, and protecting crypto-as-property status
Not yet verified
Candidate supports sound-money policies including gold/silver as constitutional money and audit/abolition of the Federal Reserve
N/A · out of tier
Candidate has voted for state balanced-budget compliance + opposed state borrowing for non-capital expenditures
Not yet verified
Candidate has voted for state usury caps + state predatory-lending protections + state charitable-deduction parity
Not yet verified
Candidate has voted for state pension/treasury divestment from ESG-aligned funds (e.g., BlackRock) + state anti-monopoly enforcement against financial cartels
Not yet verified
Candidate (state SoS/legislature) has voted for state hand-count requirements / opposed electronic voting machines
Not yet verified
Candidate (state SoS/legislature) has voted for state photo voter ID + citizenship verification at registration
Candidate has voted to restrict state early-voting windows + tighten state absentee qualifications to verified medical/military
Not yet verified
Candidate has voted against state mass mail-in voting expansion, against state drop-box deployment, and against legalizing ballot harvesting
Candidate (state) has voted for state-funded border-security measures (e.g., TX Operation Lone Star analog, AZ wall expansion)
Not yet verified
Candidate (state) has voted for state laws requiring local cooperation with ICE deportation enforcement
Candidate (state) has voted to preempt or punish sanctuary-city policies + ban state cities from declaring sanctuary status
Candidate (state) has voted for state E-Verify mandate (beyond federal floor) for state employers + state-benefit eligibility verification
Not yet verified
Candidate (state) has voted to restrict foreign ownership of state farmland (e.g., China-buyer prohibitions)
Not yet verified
Candidate supports constitutional carry without permit requirements
FALSE (0)[5]
Candidate (state) has voted against state red-flag laws, mag-capacity limits, AWBs, and registries (or voted to repeal where enacted)
FALSE (0)[5]
Candidate (state) has voted for state constitutional-carry statute
Not yet verified
Candidate (state) has voted against state universal-background-check schemes
Not yet verified
Candidate (state) has voted to enact / strengthen state Castle Doctrine + stand-your-ground statute
Not yet verified
Candidate has publicly backed law enforcement and opposed defunding/dismantling police
Candidate opposes cashless-bail, soft-on-crime, and rogue-prosecutor (e.g. Soros-DA) policy
Candidate refuses to treat violent crime as a "public health" excuse to avoid punishment
Not yet verified
Candidate affirms the magistrate's God-ordained duty to bear the sword (Rom. 13:4)
Not yet verified
Official has voted for or sponsored 10th-Amendment nullification or anti-commandeering measures
Not yet verified
Official has declined unconstitutional federal mandates or federal strings on the state
Not yet verified
Official has resisted federal overreach on guns, life, education, or religious liberty
Not yet verified
Official affirms state sovereignty against unconstitutional federal action
Not yet verified
Official has opposed federal capture of state elections, data, or land
Not yet verified
Sources & Evidence
1 Lean Left2 Center4 Right6 Official5 Reference5 Other
Vote Smart — Voting RecordReference
reportcard.familyfoundation.org/Right Advocacy
www.vcdl.org/Right Advocacy
reportcard.familyfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2...Right Advocacy
freedomindex.us/va/Right Advocacy
Ballotpedia ProfileCenter
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debra_GardnerEncyclopedia
Vote Smart — Voting RecordReference
Ballotpedia ProfileCenter
giffords.org/candidates/debra-gardner-2/Unclassified
democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/Unclassified
Bias ratings sourced from AllSides and Ad Fontes Media. Classifications for government, reference, and advocacy domains are maintained by U.S.M.C. Ministries; see source_bias.json.
References & footnotes
Every answer above with a [n] marker corresponds to one of the footnotes below. Wayback-archive links preserve the page as it read at our access date so a reader can verify the citation even if the original URL changes or disappears.
- [1]Individual/affiliated override (leftover STATE sanctity_of_life q0). Official House H0361 HTTP 200 this turn sitting D-76 lists Membership & Affiliation: Virginia League of Planned Parenthood (Board of Directors) — still-listed=score. VPM HTTP 200 House abortion-protection resolution. Baptist on official bio is faith+family SOFT not leftover hard-TRUE. Official
Individual/affiliated override (leftover STATE sanctity_of_life q0). Official House H0361 HTTP 200 this turn sitting D-76 lists Membership & Affiliation: Virginia League of Planned Parenthood (Board of Directors) — still-listed=score. VPM HTTP 200 House abortion-protection resolution. Baptist on official bio is faith+family SOFT not leftover hard-TRUE.
- [2]Individual/affiliated override (leftover STATE sanctity_of_life q0). Official House H0361 HTTP 200 this turn sitting D-76 lists Membership & Affiliation: Virginia League of Planned Parenthood (Board of Directors) — still-listed=score. VPM HTTP 200 House abortion-protection resolution. Baptist on official bio is faith+family SOFT not leftover hard-TRUE. Lean Left
Individual/affiliated override (leftover STATE sanctity_of_life q0). Official House H0361 HTTP 200 this turn sitting D-76 lists Membership & Affiliation: Virginia League of Planned Parenthood (Board of Directors) — still-listed=score. VPM HTTP 200 House abortion-protection resolution. Baptist on official bio is faith+family SOFT not leftover hard-TRUE.
- [3]kind: party_platform. Scored from the 2024 Democratic Party Platform (leftover STATE biblical_marriage q2) — VA STATE leftover remainder this turn: vademocrats.org/platform HTTP 404; vademocrats.org/ and vademocrats.org/your-party/ HTTP 200 no leftover q-map. democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/ HTTP 200 redirected to 2024-Democratic-Party-Platform.pdf; presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-democratic-party-platform HTTP 200. On-file leftover STATE map (data/party-platforms.json dnc-2024 state): biblical_marriage False. Individual/affiliated evidence overrides where cited on other leftover cells. No invented roll-calls. Blank > wrong. Unclassified
kind: party_platform. Scored from the 2024 Democratic Party Platform (leftover STATE biblical_marriage q2) — VA STATE leftover remainder this turn: vademocrats.org/platform HTTP 404; vademocrats.org/ and vademocrats.org/your-party/ HTTP 200 no leftover q-map. democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/ HTTP 200 redirected to 2024-Democratic-Party-Platform.pdf; presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-democratic-party-platform HTTP 200. On-file leftover STATE map (data/party-platforms.json dnc-2024 state): biblical_marriage False. Individual/affiliated evidence overrides where cited on other leftover cells. No invented roll-calls. Blank > wrong.
- [4]kind: party_platform. Scored from the 2024 Democratic Party Platform (leftover STATE biblical_marriage q2) — VA STATE leftover remainder this turn: vademocrats.org/platform HTTP 404; vademocrats.org/ and vademocrats.org/your-party/ HTTP 200 no leftover q-map. democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/ HTTP 200 redirected to 2024-Democratic-Party-Platform.pdf; presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-democratic-party-platform HTTP 200. On-file leftover STATE map (data/party-platforms.json dnc-2024 state): biblical_marriage False. Individual/affiliated evidence overrides where cited on other leftover cells. No invented roll-calls. Blank > wrong. Unclassified
kind: party_platform. Scored from the 2024 Democratic Party Platform (leftover STATE biblical_marriage q2) — VA STATE leftover remainder this turn: vademocrats.org/platform HTTP 404; vademocrats.org/ and vademocrats.org/your-party/ HTTP 200 no leftover q-map. democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/ HTTP 200 redirected to 2024-Democratic-Party-Platform.pdf; presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-democratic-party-platform HTTP 200. On-file leftover STATE map (data/party-platforms.json dnc-2024 state): biblical_marriage False. Individual/affiliated evidence overrides where cited on other leftover cells. No invented roll-calls. Blank > wrong.
- [5]Giffords-endorsed on stated positions to ban assault weapons, strengthen the extreme-risk (red-flag) law, and improve background checks. Unclassified
Giffords-endorsed on stated positions to ban assault weapons, strengthen the extreme-risk (red-flag) law, and improve background checks.
Have Information About This Official?
Help us improve this scorecard. If you have evidence of this official's positions — voting records, social media posts, public statements, or corrections — submit it below and we'll review and update the profile.