Yesterday, we did this for the National Election, so now lets go through the winners and losers for Delaware elections:
WINNERS
- Democratic Party — regained control of the House, solidified control of the Senate took advantage of a blue state getting bluer. Mike Katz winning SD 4 was especially sweet.
- Jack Markell — took on the machine and won. Got the party decisively behind him and even kept much of his crossover R voters. Jack has a tough job ahead, but is likely in a better position to take that on than any of the other candidates. Jack was generous in working with all of the downticket Dems, and I hope (but don’t know) that the coterie of Dems who won competitive races will be allies of Jack. It is something to build on.
- Delaware — people know us now for more than credit cards and highway robbery at the toll booth on I95.
- Matt Denn!
LOSERS
- Democratic Party — there isn’t much (that I can tell) that is especially progressive about the new majorities, so the highly insular political Delaware Way gets pretty much preserved and makes them a Big Fat Target. And then there’s Atkins.
- Republican Party — seemed to field candidates who were more conservative than Delawareans are, meaning that they found themselves on the wrong side of the Delaware Way. No doubt that they suffered from being Rs in a D year, but aligning themselves with the national playbook rather than thinking about speaking to their neighbors certainly hurt.
- Citizens of Delaware — all of this new Democratic power without much of a unifying issue or agenda. This could be a real problem or a real opportunity — I include this on the Loser list because I don’t know how reliable Dem leadership is going to be — outside of Jack Markell and Matt Denn.
- Charlie Copeland — nuff said.
So who do you think the winners and losers are here in Delaware after this election season? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.