So recently, the 14th Representative District endorsed their incumbent State Representative, House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, for reelection. There is nothing really unusual about that, one would expect one’s own RD to endorse you for reelection, except that the endorsement is quite early in the election year, and that the 14th RD abandoned their long standing policy of not endorsing before the primary election in order to make this endorsement.
And now we get word that the neighboring RD, the 20th, has taken the unusual step of endorsing Pete for reelection. I don’t think I’ve seen that happen before, where an RD endorses a candidate for election in another RD, a candidate none of the residents or members of the RD can vote for. The committee chair of the 20th RD even sent out a press release:
“As a full time legislator in the General Assembly since his initial election in 2002, Schwartzkopf has a long history of being very responsible to the needs “public safety, job creation, economic activity and quality of life — of all of Sussex County; he went on to say that Representative Schwartzkopf is a retired Delaware State Police captain and troop commander with 25 years of service and that the 20th District Committee Members are proud to underscore the recent endorsement of Schwartkopf’s re-election bid.”
So what is behind this? Does Pete face a primary? Does Pete think his general election chances have dimmed? Is there a vote in the General Assembly that is about to take place that he thinks will harm him? Is Pete going to run for Governor?