Delaware Political Weekly: Dec. 1-7, 2017
1. Looks Like It’s Sturgeon Vs. Lavelle In SD 4. With Dan Cruse’s withdrawal from the race for family reasons, the stage is now set for an epic showdown between Rethug mouthpiece/obstructionist Greg Lavelle and insurgent Laura Sturgeon. Make no mistake. This is a winnable race. There are now more registered D’s than R’s in the district, 12,659 D; 12,173 R; and 9456 I. Lavelle is to the right of a lot of the R’s, especially R women, in the district. He has plenty of material that can be used against him. Both Sturgeon and Cruse were viable candidates. However, in this case, a primary likely would have made it difficult for whichever candidate survived to take on Lavelle. You can’t win in SD 4 just by reaching out to D’s when a preponderance of the registered voters are either R’s or I’s. It would have been daunting to do that with only two months between the primary and the general elections. The general election begins now.
Here’s a refresher course on Laura Sturgeon. Gotta say that I’m not in love, to put it mildly, with her endorsement strategy. Granted, she was facing a primary when this page was cooked up (Patti Blevins???), but I don’t think she can win portraying herself as a connected pol. Ditto her Advisory Board. To me, those are warning signs, based on my experience. If she’s gonna win, it’s gonna have to be via grassroots. Her knocking on doors, volunteers knocking on doors, the whole bit. Yes, she can raise money from those who have endorsed her, but when you plaster their pictures up their, you assume their liabilities. Especially Patti Blevins.
I also would hope that Sturgeon has reached out to Dan Cruse. Not to press him for an endorsement, but as a genuine expression of empathy. Why? Empathy is sorely lacking in the General Assembly nowadays, and empathy has never been Lavelle’s strong point, particularly when it comes to those who have no power. And/or no health care.
Hmmm, now that the primary has been avoided, maybe it’s time to arrange for a DL sitdown with Laura…
2.Krista Griffith Kicks Off Campaign For RD 12. Two D’s in a primary to challenge Rep. Debbie Hudson, who represents only the richest of the rich in Dover. We previously profiled Rachel Blumenfeld. Next week, Krista Griffith kicks off her campaign with an event at Pizza By Elizabeth’s from 5:30-8 pm. Here is her newly-minted website. Color me…ambivalent at best. Carefully-crafted, but I’m searching for the Krista Griffith in there. Lots of ‘help business thrive’, nothing, as far as I can find, about funding for those who are being squeezed, very little that could be perceived as big ‘D’ Democratic. She has an impressive background, and she name-drops Beau Biden (a lot) and Matt Denn (BTW, I don’t like the way she tries to get a rub from the Beau Biden Foundation. Isn’t that a non-profit?). I’m just looking for a little progressivity there. Feel free to scour the site and disabuse me of that notion.
Regardless, I’m gonna do my best John Daniello here. This is a primary that, if not resolved ahead of time, will likely ensure Hudson’s reelection. I don’t oppose primaries in general. In fact, I often welcome them. However, when two D’s primary each other in a district like this, a district that has an R edge, you can’t win a general by only having the two months after the primary to reach out to the majority of voters in the district. It’s only my opinion, but I believe that finding a way to resolve the primary and to unify ahead of what will be a challenging general election is the only way to possibly defeat Hudson.
3. (No) Filings This Week.
That’s it for this week. What’d I miss, and whaddayathink?
I’m not going to ding Laura Sturgeon for the associations to known Democrats heading into a race against an incumbent. Her bio and statements so far give me enough hope that she can show some good judgement if elected.
Griffith should consistently use the terminology we use here in Delaware as in the 12th RD or 12th District, not District 12.
@jason: Exactly what was said about Stephanie Hansen. Good to see that the Carperdyne people have come up with a distaff model, though.
My concern isn’t so much about what she can do if elected. It’s that I don’t think a Carneyesque campaign is what gives her the best chance to win.
Hey, if she’s building a serious grassroots effort, I’ll feel more optimistic.
Is she? Anyone from the campaign want to fill us in?
Ah, Yes. That makes sense.
That is the plan. We realize that you don’t win against a moneyed incumbent like Lavelle by trying to outraise him. We have about 5-10 people coming out every week at the moment to try to knock at least a couple hundred doors per weekend. Now that the primary race is clear, we’re going to try to work on volunteer recruitment going into the new year so that we can really ramp up the whole operation. So if you know anyone who wants to beat Lavelle, send em our way.
Is she on board with the Carney-Schwartzkopf agenda? Because if she is, good luck to you.
Thanks, Karl. That’s a real good start for this point in the cycle. I assume that Laura is knocking as well? I’ll be out there when the weather gets warmer. (Hey, I’m a wuss, what can I say?)
Alby, she at the very least is supportive of public education as opposed to the Markellian model. That’s a good start.
But I think it’d be great to interview her for the blog. Rumor has it that you have some experience at this…
As far as a political agenda goes, I can point you to her website: http://sturgeon4statesenate.com/issues/, as I don’t want to speak for her. We’ll be updating it soon to be more in-depth. However, I can say that I consider myself quite progressive, and I believe she’s shown the judgment to be really great.
And yep, she’s been out there walking every weekend, and we’ve been getting fantastic results. Not as many Lavelle Democrats as we might have feared in a district like this.
@El Som: That just means she would have to fight uphill against both parties.
@Karl: Pretty anodyne. Sounds like she’s on board with the gutting of the CZA when she says “New Castle County has more waterfront it can develop.”
She speaks in favor of ‘progressive taxation’. That’s encouraging.
There’s at least more to her agenda than what I saw on Krista Griffith’s site.
It IS early, after all. I’ll get to work on seeing if we can set up an interview…
We already have progressive taxation. It’s just not very progressive.
Statewide. Property. Tax. That way it doesn’t matter if you pretend to live in Florida six months a year, as literally a score of people I know already do. You can’t compete with a 0% income tax rate.
I cannot make a habit of responding to blogs and blog comments because I’d never be able to keep up, so allow me this one indulgence and then please contact me in person for comment in the future.
I’d like to set the record straight: I took a political gamble and posted my concerns about HB 190 on FB while it was being debated in the Senate, and it cost me the support of the building trade unions, who sited my objections to HB 190 as a reason to back Cruse. I was disappointed they chose to back someone with no union ties over a union sister who vehemently opposes union-busting legislation such as “Right-to-Work” but that’s the risk that comes with taking a stand. When I say on the website that we have waterfront that can be developed, I am not referring to heavy industry, but to development that would have been permissible under the original Coastal Zone Act. I will say, however, that the HB 190 amendments that were introduced and passed in the House before they voted in favor of the bill, somewhat mollified my fears, and I stepped back from publicly commenting at that point. The final bill, with the amendments, was a compromise, and I am in favor of compromise. And if the passage of HB190 brings good union jobs, I will feel even better about it. We shall see. Balancing environmental protection with economic growth and opportunity will always be a challenge, and the most well-meaning politician will likely not get it right every time. I can only promise to do my due diligence by looking carefully at all the pros and cons of any given piece of legislation and do my best to make a principled, intelligent decision.
I would be delighted to sit down with Delaware Liberal for an in-person interview. I’ll be waiting for the call. 302 543 8339
Thanks so much, Laura. We look forward to meeting with you!
Well, just had a long talk w/Laura Sturgeon. This race is gonna be fun.
They’ve been grassrootsing it for several months now. Every weekend with the candidate and volunteers knocking doors.
They’ve raised a substantial amount of money, which will become clear when the end-of-year reports are filed.
She’s very sharp, fun to talk to, and certainly progressive enough for my tastes.
If you’re jonesing for a campaign, you could do far worse than this one. I’ll be out pounding doors once spring arrives. Oh, and if you’d like to get involved, here’s how:
http://sturgeon4statesenate.com/about-laura/
Should you consider this an endorsement? Yes.
Thanks, Laura, for addressing my concern. Sadly, though I live in your district, I can’t vote for you because you’re a Democrat, which makes you the first victim of my boycott of voting for Democrats. I’ll come back when they reseat Al Franken. Sorry.
That’s OK. I DON’T live in the district, but I’ll vote for Laura. (Thanks, ACORN!!)
Just sent off a donation to Laura. And I AM in her district and am planning to vote for her.
@alby – Franken is a lost cause.
Yes, he is. Doesn’t change my stance.