(Left to Right): Insurance Commissioner Navarro, Senator Nicole Poore, Stephanie Hansen, Former State Rep. Rebecca Walker and State Rep. Helene Keeley.
So last week, the state Democratic Party held an informational meeting in New Castle regarding the upcoming special election in the 10th Senate District to replace Bethany Hall Long. During this meeting, several candidates spoke announcing their candidacies. They are:
Jim Ryan – Retired CWA
Debbie Harrington – Retired Military, DSU Trustee
Dave Woodside – 27th RD chair
Stephanie Hansen – Former County Council president
Maggie Jones – Campaign manager for John Walsh
Harry Dudlek – Committee member, IBEW member
One name stands out among all the rest, and that is Stephanie Hansen, who is currently an environmental and land use attorney at the Wilmington law firm of Young Conaway. She is also the former President of New Castle County Council from 1996 to 2001, who had previously considered primarying County Executive Tom Gordon last year before deferring. As you can see from the picture above, she is friendly with many former or current members of the General Assembly. Out of that list above, she is obviously the Party’s pick and can be expected to win the Executive Committee 10th SD Committee vote on January 3 this Wednesday.
It is curious that many of the rumored candidates for this open seat did not pursue it, namely Representative Quinn Johnson and Earl Jaques and Ken Boulden, the New Castle County Clerk of Peace. I have heard that the three of them made the rounds but did not receive positive reaction from the necessary parties.
The GOP for their part have already chosen 2014 nominee John Marino, who got 49% of the vote in a GOP year when Hall-Long was dogged by her husband’s sign stealing scandal. I tend to think that was his high water mark.