Since stepping down from the Markell administration in 2014, O’Mara has been CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, an environmental nonprofit with 4 million members and an annual budget of $140 million. Sure, he’d give that up in a heartbeat for a chance at running the state of Delaware. But that’s not his only commitment.
It got almost no attention at the time because the media gets more eyeballs reporting every Trump mouthfart, but the Biden administration announced a couple of weeks ago that it had selected seven locations to launch its planned hydrogen energy network. One of them is the Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub (MACH2), which is getting a $750 million federal grant to set up a network comprising 17 sites in Southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
The Chairman of the Board of MACH2 is Collin O’Mara. I suppose it’s possible that he could try to run for governor at the same time he’s involved in coordinating what sounds like a sprawling start-up business, but it seems unlikely, especially when the hydrogen project is just getting underway. It’s not a full-time job – he’s not the CEO, so others are running things day to day. But I have a hard time envisioning a scenario where he bails on this no-doubt-lucrative gig for a longshot bid at Woodburn.
O’Mara faces obstacles beyond his prior commitments. Finding a financial backer probably wouldn’t be difficult, but what’s his selling point to Democratic Party primary voters? He’s a centrist of the Coons can’t-we-all-find-something-to-agree-on school, no drawback in Delaware, but the race already has two centrist candidates. Each is flawed, but each also has an existing constituency. O’Mara does not.
On the other hand, O’Mara is obviously ambitious enough to want the job. Still, he’s only in his mid-40s, so it’s not like it’s now or never. I think he might dip his toe in the pool and decide it’s too cold to swim.