[6] Approaching the end of the session in October 1878 he again ran for the position of parish sheriff, but lost out coming second to Victor Miles.
[7] He was a member of the State Central Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Louisiana in 1879 when P. B. S. Pinchback was president.
[9] Simms was then elected to serve in the Louisiana State Senate for three session from 1880 until 1892.
[1][10] He along with the other four black senators voted against a bill put forth by Charles Parlange in 1884 to put convicts to work on levees and to break the current lease of the prison.
[12] In 1896 Simms was a delegate to the Eleventh Republican National Convention in St. Louis representing the central district.