Why Should Delaware Care?
Special elections to fulfill the last two years in the terms of two state senators, serving much of the northern Wilmington suburbs, will prolong an exhausting campaign cycle. Republicans will be seeking in-roads to seats in the higher state legislative chamber, especially after a strong national election, but more than a dozen Democrats have lined up to win the seats in an opaque process.
In the wake of an exhausting election cycle, two additional political races are quietly beginning in northern Delaware between candidates seeking to replace State Sens. Sarah McBride and Kyle Evans Gay – both popular Wilmington-area politicians who are departing their Democratic-leaning districts for higher office.
Spotlight Delaware has learned that at least 13 Democrats are vying for the votes of political insiders in those two districts in order to run as the party’s nominees in special elections that are expected to occur in February.
According to a memo sent among Democratic Party members, leaders from precincts in each senate district will meet on Dec. 9 to vote for their choice among the nominees.
And, because both districts lean heavily Democratic, the two candidates who ultimately receive the party’s nod will become the odds-on favorite to win the special elections and serve as Delaware’s newest state senators.
Among the Democratic contenders for the two seats are three health care industry veterans, three nonprofit executives, a former county councilman, a Claymont shopkeeper, a Brandywine high school teacher, a Wilmington city employee, a community college professor, and a Gen-Zer who lost a recent election to become the New Castle County Council president.
Several Republicans have also shown interest in running in the special election, said P.J. O’Dwyer, chair of the Northern New Castle County Region Republican Committee. O’Dwyer declined to publicly name the potential candidates until final decisions are made about whether they will join the contest.
The February elections to replace McBride and Evans Gay will be among the first in the country since November, when Republicans won gains across nearly every county in the U.S. – including in Delaware.
Still, any GOP candidate who enters these special elections will face long odds, as Democrats far outnumber them in each of the two districts.
According to state voter registration data, Republicans make up just 18% of registered voters in McBride’s Senate District 1 that includes Trolley Square, Alapocas and Bellefonte, compared with Democrats who account for 56%.
At 24%, Republicans account for a bigger chunk of the voter base in Evans Gay’s district that includes Brandywine Hundred and Claymont, but their numbers still are only half of the Democratic registrations.
Meyer critiques opaque process
When a senate seat goes vacant in Delaware, the head of that legislative chamber must issue what state law calls a “writ of election” within 10 days. The law further directs the state to hold a special election between 30 and 35 days after the issuance of the writ of election.
The law also directs committees from the political parties of the relevant district to submit someone as their nominee. Due to the quick turnaround, state law does not call for a primary election. As a result, a small number of active political party insiders ultimately choose who could represent these districts for two years.
Last week, Governor-elect Matt Meyer criticized that system, arguing in a letter to Democratic Party leaders that they should hold a primary prior to the February special election.
Such a process “would require our candidates to organize, persuade, and get out the vote in order to earn the Democratic nomination,” he said in the letter.
Party leaders have said that there isn’t enough time to amend the special election structure.
“We welcome a dialogue to evaluate the current official replacement process under the Delaware Code, the Delaware Democratic Party rules, and the laws of other subdivisions and municipalities,’’ Delaware Democratic Party Chair Betsy Maron wrote in a response letter, first reported by WHYY. “At this time, however, we cannot support your proposal.”
A cornucopia of candidates
Of the 13 candidates running, nine are vying to replace McBride, who will be sworn in Jan. 3 as Delaware’s lone congresswoman.
Because the candidate pool is so large, Democrats will hold two days of virtual forums so that the roughly 75 voting members of the party can vet the candidates. Neither are open to the public.
The first is scheduled for tonight. The participants will include Adriana Leela Bohm, a sociology professor; Dan Cruce, a United Way of Delaware executive; George Frankel, a staffer at Delaware’s Workforce Development Board; and Chris Otto, the head of the Delaware Nurses Association.
Five additional candidates will join a forum Thursday.
They will include Melissa Froemming, a former president of Delaware NOW; David Sheppard, an executive at the Thurgood Marshall College Fund; David Vagnoni, a Brandywine High School teacher; Chantae Vinson, a community organizer and staffer at Wilmington’s Office of Emergency Management; and Kenneth Woods, a retired New Castle County councilman.
Those forums follow another that occurred on Monday night among the four candidates seeking to replace Evans Gay.
They include Sharikka Shay Frisby, a state health department manager, and owner of a candy and gift shop; Raymond Seigfried, a former state legislator and former hospital executive; Bryan Haimes, a ChristianaCare doctor; and Jonathan Tate, a finance worker and co-chair of the Delaware Democratic Socialists of America.
Spotlight Delaware spoke with several of the candidates, though not all could coordinate a time for an interview before the deadline for this story. Many of the conversations centered on health care and education policy, and on how Democrats can better appeal to the electorate.
Tate, who is among the youngest of the candidates, said Democrats need to turn to more economically populist policies in order to show Generation Z voters “that there is still a place” for them in the party.
Frankel, another 20-something candidate, also said Democrats – and Delaware more broadly – need to do better at appealing to young people.
He said he’s running for McBride’s seat because he has concerns about how the state’s economy will manage a growing rank of retirees combined with a younger population that he said is not sufficiently trained for the state’s workforce.
If elected, he said he would push for education programs that link high schools with tutors at neighborhood libraries.
Frisby said she is running for Evans Gay’s seat to help the working-class financially, specifically calling for more public resources for childcare and for the state to adopt its own version of the federal earned income tax credit.
She also said she would like lawmakers to again pass a bill to allow doctors to assist in the deaths of terminal patients — legislation that Gov. Carney vetoed earlier this year.
As a teacher, Vagnoni said education reform also is his reason for entering politics. He said he would like Delaware to deemphasize standardized tests, which he described as a “heavy-handed” way to judge the state’s education system.
He also called himself a “greenspace person,” and said the state should incentivize denser housing in areas that are already developed.
Vinson said that as a mother of two kids in the Red Clay Consolidated School District, her priority is education equity.
She also cited “safety and security for all” as a reason for her candidacy.
And, Bohm – another of the candidates seeking to replace McBride – also pointed to education as a pillar of her platform, saying the state should change its education funding system and offer pre-K programs to all students.
Different opinions on health care reform
Beyond education, several candidates pointed to health care as their motivation for running for office.
Otto said he is running for McBride’s seat to expand paid family leave and Medicaid in Delaware. As a career nurse, he also said he considers Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long a mentor.
Otto said he supports a controversial measure that state lawmakers passed last year that created a government panel to oversee hospital spending.
Following the passage of legislation – House Bill 350 – Delaware’s largest health care provider ChristianaCare sued the state, arguing it was unconstitutional and infringed on its ability to provide care.
Two candidates running to replace Evans Gay, and who also work in health care, held differing views on House Bill 350.
Seigfried – a former senior vice president at ChristianaCare, former health care policy instructor, and member of the state House of Representatives from 2018 to 2020 – opposed the hospital cost review board because he doesn’t believe its members would have sufficient background knowledge to oversee the complexities of hospital pricing. He also said a review board would antagonize hospitals when state officials should be partnering with them.
Still, Seigfried agreed that hospital costs should be lowered, arguing that “it is loud and clear that health care costs are way out of control.”
Haimes, a ChristianaCare doctor, also opposes a hospital cost review board. He said tying hospital prices to Medicare reimbursement rates would harm care. Instead, he called for the state to push for better access to primary care doctors.
While he sides with ChristianaCare in opposing a review board, Haimes also criticized Delaware’s largest hospital system over transparency, arguing that it has gone “toward a primarily business model.”