The Delaware Political Hot Stove: October, 2019

1. It’s Official: Hugg vs. Lawson. David Lawson has filed for reelection for the 15th SD seat. Hugg will announce in early November. The ‘old guard’ in Kent County is Hugg’s ‘braintrust’.  By that, I mean Nancy Cook and her hangers-on. (BTW, I heard a rumor about Nancy Cook that I pray is not true. Yes, it’s a teaser, but I’m sworn to secrecy.)

2. Larry Lambert To Primary Ray Siegfried in RD 7. This could be a competitive primary. Siegfried won the D primary in 2018 with only 28.7% of the vote in a five-way race. Lambert finished second with 25.45%. Joe Daigle, who finished third with 24.9%, is out of the picture this time. Catherine Imburgia, who got over 11% of the vote, has reportedly endorsed Lambert. Oh, the fifth candidate? Rose Izzo.  Here’s what’s changed, though. Siegfried has been superb on constituent services, and his votes have generally been pretty good. I voted for Larry last time, but I’m leaning towards Ray this time around. Siegfried proved to be a door-to-door machine in 2018, and I don’t see that changing. I make him the favorite, but it should be a real good race.

3. Kerri Evelyn Harris’ Mom New Chair In RD 32. Yes, that’s Andria Bennett’s district and, yes, Kerri lives in the district as well. I see this as a good thing. Maybe she can hold Bennett’s feet to the fire when the Chamber of Commerce comes calling. If not, maybe Kerri runs next time.

4. Stephanie Barry Is In. She has filed and will presumably take on Mike Ramone in a brass-knucks rematch of their 2018 contest in RD 21. Ramone won by less than 400 votes last time, even though Barry got a late start.

5. Who Will Primary Karen Hartley-Nagle? Names have been noticeably lacking here. I mean, shouldn’t Matt Meyer take the lead in finding and/or supporting a challenger to the clearly incompetent and unstable incumbent?  I’ve got a name. Since she has made clear that she will not challenge Sen. Delcollo, I recommend Jordyn Pusey, who is the former president of the Civic League For New Castle County. She challenged, and came within 60 votes of defeating, political hack Ken Woods for a council seat. She knows county government, and is both competent and well-grounded.

6. Filings. Since my last update, the following have filed: State Rep. Stephanie Bolden, D-RD 2; State Rep. Franklin Cooke, D-RD 16; and a couple of IPODs: Mark Turley for US Senate & Brian Whitaker for President Of New Castle County Council. I wonder if DL fave Jakim Mohammed will again primary Cooke, who shows all the earmarks of being a back-bencher.

7. Registration Figures. The travails of Trump have proven toxic to Rethug registration. In SD 5, where Cathy Cloutier is finishing up her final term, whether she knows it or not, the changes from September to October are as follows: 35 more D’s, 14 fewer R’s, 40 fewer I’s. In the 21st RD, where Ramone and Barry will battle, 7 more D’s, 11 fewer R’s, 3 fewer I’s. I’m not cherry-picking here. This trend holds up virtually every single month throughout New Castle County in particular.

What are you hearing out there?