Why Should Delaware Care?
In Delaware, Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by a nearly 2-1 ratio, making their elections to statewide office virtually assured and the Democratic Party Primary Election a vital measure for leaders.
New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer’s win in the Democratic primary race for governor headlined a bevy of significant election results in Tuesday’s primary election.
More than 100,000 people cast ballots in the primary races yesterday, which solidified the ballots for the Nov. 5 general election.
Several of the wins Tuesday were history-making in Delaware,
Meyer wins governor nom
After a bruising campaign, Meyer topped a three-way race with 47% of the voted, followed by Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long who received 36.6% and former state environmental chief Collin O’Mara who received 16.4%.
In addressing his supporters at a celebration party in Wilmington on Tuesday, Meyer remarked that his campaign had to overcome significant challenges to the state’s political status quo.
“Let’s be honest: We were up against the endorsement of just about everyone,” he said, referencing the support of Gov. John Carney, legislative leaders and even the Delaware Democratic Party for Hall-Long. “We beat a system today.”
Meyer will now face House Minority Leader Mike Ramone in the November general election, but Delaware’s nearly two-to-one Democratic voter advantage and recent history of Democratic domination of statewide offices give him a clear path to the governor’s mansion.
McBride, Whalen wins House noms
The races for the U.S. House nominations featured a surprise and a sure bet.
State Sen. Sarah McBride handily won the race for the Democratic nomination with nearly 80% of the vote total. It is no surprise after she fundraised millions of dollars and secured major endorsements, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
McBride would make history as the first transgender member of Congress, if elected.
In a surprising turn of events in the Republican primary, John Whalen, a little-known retired Delaware State Police trooper from Millsboro, defeated Donyale Hall, who had the backing of the Delaware Republican Party.
Whalen only filed for the office days before the deadline to do so and ran a very grassroots campaign while eschewing forums and media interviews. Hall announced her candidacy a year ago and has been on the campaign trail since.
He faces an enormous campaign funding gulf between McBride less than two months from the general election.
Gay wins Lt. Gov. nom
In a much more low-key race for lieutenant governor, State Sen. Kyle Evans Gay won the Democratic nod with 48.2% of the vote, edging out Rep. Sherry Dorsey Walker who secured 36.8% and newcomer Debbie Harrington who landed 15%.
Gay had raised the most campaign funding, buying a prominent billboard of Interstate 95 in her Wilmington hometown, and secured the Delaware Democratic Party endorsement. The win sets up the former deputy attorney general for future higher offices.
She will be the prohibitive favorite in a general election race against former Republican Rep. Ruth Briggs King in November.
Carney makes history
In the race to succeed Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki, voters chose a familiar face: Gov. John Carney.
It becomes a historic switch as the sitting governor moves to a municipal office for the first time in modern U.S. history. Carney, who secured nearly 54% of the vote in a race against former State Treasurer Velda Jones-Potter, is the de facto winner with no Republican opponent.
Wins by Meyer and Carney set up what could be one of the frostiest relationships between the head of the state and its largest city in years though.
The two don’t talk and have had a strained relationship dating back to COVID. It will be interesting to see whether that bridge can be mended, especially after the scorched earth campaign that dispatched Carney’s chosen successor, Hall-Long.
Smith leads House wins
In perhaps the most stunning result of the night, challenger Kamela Smith has completed the upset of House Speaker Valerie Longhurst in House District 15. After two decades in the legislature, Longhurst, who was the first woman to wield the gavel in the lower House, has now lasted just a year in the top leadership role.
She is thwarted much in the way that Senate President David McBride was by progressive challenger Marie Pinkney in 2020. Smith will carry the district by more than 5%, per the Associated Press.
Smith, the director of community education and engagement at ChristianaCare, said that her campaign “presented a new vision for what Delaware can do, and the people have spoken.”
“Once I’m in Dover, I’ll be pushing for government transparency, better education, health care, and housing, and the investments in our people that they deserve. Let’s get to work,” she said in a statement published by the Working Families Party, which helped to get her elected.
Elsewhere in House races, two nail-biters separated races on either side of the ticket.
It appears that Republican Rep. Bryan Shupe has done just enough to retain his seat, holding an 11-vote margin over Patrick Smith in the race for District 36. It was exactly enough votes to avoid a state-required recount in the race.
In District 21, activist Frank Burns won the race to replace Ramone, who had to give up his seat to run for governor, by just 30 votes. He topped a thorough first-time campaign by Michael Smith, and he turns from a razor-thin loser two years ago to a winner this go around in a race that Democrats want to flip.
One of the freshman in next year’s General Assembly will likely be Melanie Ross Levin, who won the Democratic nomination to succeed Sean Matthews, who decided not to seek office again for Brandywine Hundred’s District 10. Levin has been a familiar face around the halls of Legislative Hall in a variety of roles over the years though, most recently as director of the Delaware’s State Office of Women’s Advancement and Advocacy. She faces a general election race against Republican Brent Brudge in the reliably Democratic district.
Claire Snyder-Hall was the winner of the Democratic nomination for House District 14 in the Lewes-Rehoboth Beach area. The former head of Common Cause Delaware will bring a new focus on government transparency to the seat long held by House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, who backed the candidacy of convicted former State Auditor Kathy McGuinness. She finished a distant third in the race.
Correction: This story originally reported that the District 36 race was within the margin of a recount. That is not correct, according to the Department of Elections, with recounts only occurring in non-statewide races if the margin is less than half of 1% of total votes cast in the race.
