Why Should Delaware Care?
Democrats in Delaware have held a comfortable majority in the legislature, in part because of their spending power in elections. Big-ticket donations and sustained attack ads helped propel Gov. Matt Meyer into the governor’s seat after a heated primary election last year.
Editor’s note: this story has been updated to include comments Spotlight Delaware received from Nikki Miller after publication.
As Democrats try to hold onto a legislative seat they narrowly won last year, the party’s fundraising machine is deploying its resources for Alonna Berry as she seeks to succeed former-Rep. Stell Parker Selby, who last month resigned from the Milton and Lewes-area district.
According to campaign finance reports, Berry’s campaign committee and Democratic-leaning political organizations have spent about $100,000 in less than a month in support of her effort to win the Aug. 5 special election.
The spending, which would be modest in many bigger states, is enough to blanket the small legislative district in campaign ads. It may also help Democrats rebuff criticism that they failed to be transparent about Parker Selby’s months-long absence from the legislature following a stroke late last year.
Nikki Miller, the Republican candidate, has spent a fraction of the amount of her rival – about $22,000 in July, according to her campaign finance reports.
Among Berry’s biggest financial supporters is First State Strong, a political committee that on Monday paid $38,865 to a consultancy company for an apparent advertising blitz in the days leading up to the Aug. 5 election.
First State Strong reported that the money came from its affiliated political action committee, First State Strong PAC, but that group has not been active in Delaware since 2018, according to state records.
A political committee registered with the federal government that shares an address and treasurer, called First State Strong FEC, reported having $47,000 in the bank, as of June 30.
Its biggest donors last year – at $50,000 each – were the Schell Brothers development company; the Delaware City refinery owner, PBF Energy; and the Leadership and Development Alliance, a political organization backed by Kent County business executives.
It is unclear whether those donors expected their gifts to support elections beyond 2024, let alone a local special election, as First State Strong’s treasurer Michael Finnegan did not return a call seeking comment for this story.
Another big donor to Berry is the political arm of Delaware’s public school teacher’s union, called the DSEA Advocacy Fund for Children and Public Education. Last week, the organization paid nearly $25,000 to the Threshold Group, a New York political consultancy company, for ads that support the Democrat.
Additionally, Berry’s candidate committee, Friends of Alonna Berry, spent $35,710 on a separate consultant based out of New Jersey.
Separate from the direct advocacy for Berry, the political arm of the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware has spent about $23,000 in what it calls educational mailers and online ads that highlight voting rights issues that Berry supports.
In a statement to Spotlight Delaware, Berry said she’s “deeply grateful for the swell of support this campaign has received.”
“While support from organizations is appreciated, this campaign has always been about the community we serve — and that’s who we’re accountable to,” she said.
In a text message on Friday morning, Miller said she’s approaching the election with “fiscal responsibility at the core.”
“I want every donor to feel confident that their contributions are being managed wisely, and that they can see that reflected clearly in our budget reports,” Miller said.
While Miller and Berry have enjoyed different levels of financial support, they are, in some ways, similar candidates.
Both have over a decade of experience in the education field, and both identified school reform and infrastructure development as primary campaign priorities. And neither has held elected office before.
At a July 25 debate, the candidates sought to differentiate themselves from one another. But often Berry did not firmly come down on one side or the other of hot-button policy issues, such as tax bracket reform and a proposed offshore wind farm.
Miller, on the other hand, said she was firmly opposed to the wind farm, and would like to see the state cut spending and not raise taxes.
Will Miller close the gap?
The blitz special election next week was called after Parker Selby resigned in June after missing the entirety of the 2025 Delaware General Assembly. In December, she suffered a “massive” stroke and is still recovering, according to sources.
Months before that, Miller lost to Parker Selby in the 2024 general election by only 245 votes out of more than 17,000 cast.
Now, she vies for the seat a second time following accusations inside and out of the district that Democratic leaders had covered-up Parker Selby’s absence. And while the episode may have weakened Democrats’ standing in the district, Miller still faces an uphill battle from the large spending deficit.
There is no apparent record of a third-party political committee spending money in support of Miller’s campaign.
The largest direct contributor to Miller’s campaign committee was the Sussex County Republican Committee, which made a $3,000 donation on July 25.
State Rep. Bryan Shupe (R-Milford), also made two $600 donations to Miller’s campaign, one individually and one through a limited liability company tied to his name – Mispillion Way, LLC.
As Sussex County continues to face a development boom, several builders have also rallied to Miller’s campaign. Among them were Chris Schell, CEO of Schell Brothers; Wilmington-based construction firm EDiS; the Delaware Association of Realtors, and the Hammers and Nails Club, a PAC that says it elevates “pro-housing policy.”
