Simirad entered politics in 1991 with the Partidul Alianța Civică [ro] (PAC).
The following year, he was elected Mayor of Iași, running as a member of the Romanian Democratic Convention.
[3] On 28 November 2003, he left Iași and was appointed Ambassador of Romania to Cuba by President Ion Iliescu.
However, he was expelled from PSD in September 2009 after voicing his support for President Traian Băsescu.
In 2012, he was defeated in his re-election bid for President of the County Council alongside his party's mayoral candidate Tudor Ciuhodaru.