1. Collin O’Mara Pondering Run For Governor. He would be the second member of his immediate family to have run for Governor. His wife ran for Governor–of Maryland–in 2018, and came in 4th in the Democratic primary. O’Mara ‘maintains a residence in Wilmington’ so, like Dave McBride, he could presumably legally run for the position. There’s no denying that they both are highly-accomplished people. Former DNREC Secretary O’Mara is the current head of the National Wildlife Federation. His wife, Krishanti Vignarajah, is President and CEO of the Lutheran Immigration And Refugee Service. She got 8.5% of the vote in that primary, which was won by Ben Jealous, who lost to R Larry Hogan in the general election. Trivia Question: Who officiated at the marriage of this happy couple?
2. Three-Way D Primary (At Least) In SD 6. Ryan Peters and Russ Huxtable filed this week, joining Jack Bucchioni in the race to succeed Ernesto Lopez, who is retiring. Looking at the three of them, I think Huxtable appears to be a clear choice for progressives. He has a detailed platform, and his career history suggests to me that he will head to Dover as perhaps the leading advocate for affordable housing in the Senate. In fairness, Peters’ site is still under construction, and Bucchioni’s platform, although not as fleshed out as Huxtable’s, is decent as well. Hey, I don’t live there. What do our Sussex scribes think?
3. Kop Kabal Takes A Page From The Carville Playbook. Make no mistake, they’re afraid, very afraid, of Kerri Evelyn Harris. Our Democratic National Committeewoman is perhaps more able than anybody to unify the fractured Black Caucus in the House. Were the Black Caucus not fractured (said fracturing due, in large part, to the machinations of the Kop Kabal), there would be different leadership in the House already. So, El Som, what about that ‘page from the Carville Playbook’? The Kabal is putting out the word that they’re ‘concerned’ that, were Harris to win the primary, the seat could be at risk of flipping to R. The classic ‘centrist D’ trope used against progressive candidates. Which is why they’re covertly backing Kerri’s Chamber opponent, who will not be mentioned here. This is a laughable notion. The same Rethug who lost to Andria Bennett in 2016 and 2020 is running again. She got 36.8% of the vote in 2020. The registration will be even more overwhelmingly D following redistricting. In other words, they’re terrified of Harris winning the seat, not concerned about losing the seat. Why? Because they’ve never been closer to losing power, and they know it. So, for that matter, is the Delaware Chamber of Commerce, which is foursquare behind Harris’ primary opponent.
4. Our PAL Val Gets A Legit Opponent–Except…: He’s a Republican. His name is Michael Higgin. He ran in 2020 and got less than 31% of the vote. Now take a few moments to listen to him, then ask yourselves the same question I did–why is he an R? To me, he sounds like someone who would give the Police Athletic League’s fave incumbent a tussle in a primary:
https://www.facebook.com/94.7WDSD/videos/michael-higgin-is-running-for-the-15th-district-in-delaware-here-is-his-platform/347965409756764/
5. Proud Of My 7th RD Committee. We took a vote and unanimously decided not to contribute one red cent to the campaign of ‘Proud to be yer’ Bud Freel. Members cited two reasons: the lack of diversity of the 4th RD, and the lack of transparency of the process. The least, the least, the so-called Party leaders who ran the event could have done was to reveal the voting result for each candidate. But they didn’t. I’m telling you, the current Party leadership, from John Daniello’s daughter on down, is totally uninspiring. It’s not leadership, it’s followership–what do Tom, Chris, John and Lisa want? The rank-and-file don’t matter.
What’d I miss, and whaddayathink?