As expected, the Democratic Party nominated former New Castle County Council President Stephanie Hansen to be the party’s candidate in the 10th Senate District’s special election to succeed future Lt. Governor Bethany Hall Long. From the News Journal:
A former environmental scientist for the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Hansen started and led the Bear-Glasgow Council of Civic Organizations. She served as county council president from 1996-2001 and had a hand in writing the unified development code that governs land-use matters.
Hansen is currently an environmental attorney at the powerhouse law firm Young, Conaway, Stargatt and Taylor, specializing in legal matters concerning environmentally-degraded properties.
The Democrats enjoy a registration advantage in the district. There are 15,854 Democrats, 9,925 Republicans and 9,183 voters of other parties, according to totals from the Department of Elections.
But Republicans say Marino is competitive, pointing to the 49 percent of the vote he got against Hall-Long two years ago and the 49 percent he got in a 2010 House race. […]
“The possibility that we could lose control of the Senate, that’s a concern to me,” Hansen said. “I believe we’re the party of working families, a clean environment and a great public school system, and I want to make sure that I’m doing what I can to defend those ideals.”
The real news last night though was an attempt to embargo the news of this nomination until a press release was published this morning. The Democratic Party held a public meeting and announced the candidate by unanimous vote, and expected the news to stay secret until a press release had been prepared? Why wasn’t one already drafted and waiting to be released? Everyone knew it was going to be Hansen, no disrespect to the other candidates. We desperately need a Party Chairman who knows that technology and press relations have advanced since the 1970’s. We desperately need party regulars who populate the committee who understand this as well.