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Virginia House of Delegates
Terry Austin
House of Delegates — District 37
Republican
Campaign Website →
RESOLUTE Citizen Score
8
/ 100
—
Raw: 8 of 8 dynamic max
· 4 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
6/ 70
🏛️ State First
2/ 30
National Rank
#4,507 of 9,024 · top 49.9% 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: NO EVIDENCE FOUND (no public denomination stated on official bio/Ballotpedia)
Background: Virginia House of Delegates, District 37 (Botetourt/Roanoke area); first elected 2014 (old District 19), seat renumbered to HD-37 under 2021 redistricting (current term began Jan 2024). Electrician, owner of Austin Electrical Construction; former Botetourt County Board of Supervisors.
VA Delegate, HD-37 (Botetourt/Roanoke); sitting since 2014. [2026-06 RESOLUTE refinement, state tier; LIS roll-call records] Consistent conservative HARD record on the 2025 first-reference constitutional amendments: voted NO on the reproductive-freedom amendment (HJ1/SJ247) and NO on the same-sex-marriage amendment (HJ9/SJ249); graded F/'Extremist' by ReproRising 2025. Voted NO on the entire 2025 Democratic gun-control slate (assault-weapons/large-capacity-magazine ban HB1607, 5-day waiting period, secure-storage, prohibited-person-transfer bills). NOTE: on the 2026 SECOND-reference amendments (repro HJ1, marriage HJ3, voting HJ2) his vote was NOT RECORDED ('X' / absent) — NOT a YES; only his 2025 first-reference NOs are scored. Election-integrity specifics (paper ballots, photo ID, mail-in), border, and constitutional-carry left null (no on-point roll call retrieved — voting NO on AVR/felon-restoration was not mapped to the specific rubric cells).
Category Breakdown
Candidate affirms life begins at conception and personhood from conception
1 claim
Publicly identifies as 'proudly pro-life' and has committed to 'support additional efforts to protect the unborn.' Voted NO on Virginia's Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment (HJR 1, 2026) — a constitutional amendment that would enshrine abortion as a near-unlimited right in Virginia's Constitution. The vote was 64-34 along party lines; Austin stood with every Republican delegate in opposing it. Austin represents Buchanan (District 37), a deep-rural southwest Virginia district, and won re-election in November 2025.
- BallotpediaCenter
- WikipediaEncyclopedia
- BallotpediaCenter
Candidate has voted for or sponsored state legislation moving toward abortion abolition (e.g., heartbeat ban, total ban) — not merely restrictions
Not yet verified
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
TRUE (+2)[1]
Candidate opposes state recognition of same-sex marriage / civil unions / domestic partnerships, and supports state non-recognition resolutions where federally permitted
TRUE (+2)[1]
Candidate has voted for state legislation affirming biological sex (bathroom/locker access, sports participation, minor gender-procedure bans)
Not yet verified
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
Not yet verified
Candidate has voted for state school-choice (vouchers, ESAs, charter expansion) and supports state homeschool freedom statutes
Not yet verified
Candidate has voted for state law requiring parental notification + consent on minors' medical, mental-health, and gender interventions (incl. school counseling referrals)
Not yet verified
Candidate has voted for state law restricting CRT/SOGI/comprehensive-sex-ed/gender-ideology curricula in K-12
Not yet verified
Candidate has voted for state age-verification laws on pornographic content and state criminal penalties for sexualizing minors
Not yet verified
Candidate has voted for state RFRA-style protections for faith-based adoption + foster agencies; opposes state-mandated SS-couple placement
Not yet verified
Candidate affirms the right to publicly profess Christ in all spheres (workplace, military, public office, schools)
Not yet verified
Candidate has voted for state conscience-exemption laws (state RFRA, medical-professional carve-outs, business-owner protections)
Not yet verified
Candidate opposes state-level pronoun mandates + state 'hate speech' laws restricting Christian conviction
Not yet verified
Candidate supports state public-square Christian display protections + state legislative prayer + state Sunday-closure laws
Not yet verified
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
Not yet verified
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
Not yet verified
Candidate (state SoS/legislature) has voted to ban state acceptance of private election grants ('Zuckerbucks') + state penalties for foreign interference
Not yet verified
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
Not yet verified
Candidate (state) has voted to preempt or punish sanctuary-city policies + ban state cities from declaring sanctuary status
Not yet verified
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
Not yet verified
Candidate (state) has voted against state red-flag laws, mag-capacity limits, AWBs, and registries (or voted to repeal where enacted)
TRUE (+2)[1]
1 claim
A gun owner and self-described 'staunch supporter of the Second Amendment' who has pledged to uphold 'your right to own and carry a firearm.' Voted NO on HB 217 (Virginia's 2026 assault-weapons ban) along with every Republican delegate, opposing the 58-34 party-line measure that banned the sale and manufacture of assault-style rifles, capped magazine capacity, and imposed storage mandates. The legislation — signed by Gov. Spanberger in May 2026 — was called unconstitutional by NRA-ILA.
- Official Government SourceOfficial
- BallotpediaCenter
- nraila.orgUnclassified
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
Not yet verified
Candidate opposes cashless-bail, soft-on-crime, and rogue-prosecutor (e.g. Soros-DA) policy
Not yet verified
Candidate supports victim restitution and proportional punishment of evildoers
Not yet verified
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 Left1 Center4 Right11 Official4 Reference2 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/Terry_Austin_(politician)Encyclopedia
Vote Smart — Voting RecordReference
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]Voted NO on the reproductive-freedom constitutional amendment (HJ1, SJ247; 2025 first reference); graded F/'Extremist' by ReproRising 2025 — affirms a pro-life voting record. Official
Voted NO on the reproductive-freedom constitutional amendment (HJ1, SJ247; 2025 first reference); graded F/'Extremist' by ReproRising 2025 — affirms a pro-life voting record.
- [2]Voted NO on the reproductive-freedom constitutional amendment (HJ1, SJ247; 2025 first reference); graded F/'Extremist' by ReproRising 2025 — affirms a pro-life voting record. Left Advocacy
Voted NO on the reproductive-freedom constitutional amendment (HJ1, SJ247; 2025 first reference); graded F/'Extremist' by ReproRising 2025 — affirms a pro-life voting record.
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