Collin O’Mara Announces Exploratory Committee For Governor Run
Make no mistake–he’s running. I’m pretty sure that BHL’s fall from grace precipitated this run as some key players are moving to Collin’s camp. Here is his announcement:
“Delaware needs a new generation of leadership. The serious challenges we face — from not enough well-paying jobs and underperforming schools to the existential threat of climate change and the interrelated crises of poverty, unaffordable housing, inaccessible healthcare, and crime — demand not only serious debate, but sustainable and equitable solutions for our future.”
For Immediate Release (December 4, 2023)
Collin O’Mara, former Delaware Secretary of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and current CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, has filed a campaign committee with the State Elections Commissioner to explore a run for Governor of Delaware in the 2024 Democratic Primary. Collin has been encouraged to run by a growing number of Delawareans who want a campaign focused on real solutions to the immense challenges we face.
Collin has spent his career in public service leadership positions. As Secretary of Natural Resources and Environmental Control from 2009-2014 under Governor Jack Markell, Collin led one of the most active periods in the 50-year history of the department, achieving nation-leading reductions in air pollution, enacting statewide recycling, bolstering climate resilience, building clean energy, and expanding public trails, parks, and wildlife refuges. As CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, America’s largest grassroots conservation organization with 7 million members and supporters, he played a critical role in helping pass the Inflation Reduction Act, the Infrastructure Jobs and Reinvestment Act, the Great American Outdoors Act, and the Delaware River Basin Conservation Act. He has helped secure hundreds of millions of dollars for Delaware to advance environmental justice, natural resource restoration, clean water, community resilience, and clean energy investments, including the recently announced award for the Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub that will create thousands of union jobs in Delaware. Collin is also a youth basketball and soccer coach for his daughters’ teams (he has a mean jump shot…) and is committed to supporting all children, families, and communities throughout the state.
Collin’s vision for Delaware centers on improving the Four E’s: the Economy, Education, Environment, and Equitable Access to Housing, Healthcare, and Public Safety. He is particularly focused on creating 40,000 family-sustaining jobs by implementing President Biden’s historic Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the CHIPs and Science Act, building 21st century infrastructure, and growing key economic sectors, including financial services, life sciences, sustainable chemistry, agriculture, and tourism/hospitality. Collin has a plan to rebuild Delaware’s middle class as we become the first state to achieve 100% clean energy, first to net-zero emissions, and a national leader in advancing environmental justice. This includes aggressively removing pollution from our water, air, and soils, leading on offshore wind and solar, repowering industrial facililities and heavy transportation vehicles with green hydrogen, and investing in energy efficiency.
A resident of Bear and before that Wilmington, Collin was the youngest cabinet secretary in the nation when Governor Markell appointed him to serve as Secretary of Natural Resources in 2009 at the age of 29. In addition to his service with the State of Delaware and the National Wildlife Federation, he brings expertise in economic development (Economic Development Officer and Clean Tech Strategist for the City of San José, California) and financial management (former Assistant Budget Director for the City of Syracuse). Collin graduated from Dartmouth College and Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar, before serving as a University Fellow at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. His wife Krishanti served as Policy Director for First Lady Michelle Obama and currently leads one of the nation’s largest immigration nonprofits. Their three daughters are 11, 6, and 7 months old.
*Note: As a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, the National Wildlife Federation does not support or oppose candidates seeking elected office or any political party. References to the National Wildlife Federation are for identification purposes only.
So there you go. Whaddayathink?
HMMM….I don’t see what CO’M brings that Meyer doesn’t. It is probably me though.
Anyway, I find it amazing that the DEGOP is still so fucked up, so prostrate, so vacant, that it didn’t respond to the BHL news with some semblance of a serious candidate.
I was a Meyer person, but the more I think about, Colin O’Mrra deserves another look. As long as he really does live in Delaware and doesn’t have the lunatic fringe around him, I’ll keep an open mind about supporting him. At lease he has some balls.
Follow the money. Read the financial reports. When you see where Chamber members’ bucks are going, vote the other way.
(Unfortunately, I have this sinking feeling that Chamber members are singing “Both Sides Now” today.)
I have it on good authority from someone close to the committee within the DEGOP that endorses candidates that they won’t have a slate in 2024.
Well, an R filed for Governor last week, so there’s that…
Merely musing–OK, BHL and her husband basically put $300K from donors into their own personal piggy bank.
I wonder whether some of those donors can–or–will ask for the $$’s back so that they can give the donations to O’Mara.
“A resident of Bear”
Are people really buying this?
Are people buying BHL’s bullshit story about her “clerical error?”
I’m not talking about BHL tho.
Colin grew up in central NY, got his first job in Syracuse, worked in California for a bit. Was at DNREC for 4 years then leaves to lead a non profit with his wife listing their residence in Montogomery County MD in 2018 when SHE ran for Governor of Maryland. hmmmmm
Seems kinda odd. The guys connection to Delaware was a term at DNREC so now he should be elected Governor?
All very odd.
I concur. Its all pretty sus. They came here because it’s a smaller and “easier” political environment. Wouldn’t be the first time this family ran where they didn’t live.. https://patch.com/maryland/baltimore/lawsuit-seeks-remove-krishanti-vignarajah-primary-ballot
nothing against colin or his wife – but she just ran for governor a maryland a few years ago. he’s done nothing to invest in the community or the state. for all of bhl’s problems, at least she’s served here and lived here. matt meyer as well. why not join the pta or go to a civic association meeting. I guess that’s below him? I dont want to be led by a couple who appear to just be stopping by every station northbound on the acela trying to get elected to something. just head up to philly.
You know, I was a Meyer supporter, but Meyer people are getting petty and I think I’m switching. I’m willing to give Collin a good look now.
Not sure what you mean by Meyer people getting petty.
All I can tell you is that none of the BHL info I posted came from that camp. In fact, almost all of it came from former BHL supporters. And from a couple of real sharp reporters.
I’m not a Meyer person and if that dumb comment made you switch your political allegiances then maybe you weren’t a great supporter to begin with.
honestly, our state and party are a wasteland of lazy incompetence and softcore corruption. our choices are a criminal, a guy who doesn’t live here, and a guy that no one seems to like. and we are a deep blue state? who cares at this point. none of them are going to do a damn thing to upset the status quo.
At least Omara is a smart guy and not brain dead. And yes BHL may have served here in Delaware, but she what it sounds like is that she likes to serve herself and make sure her husband is on the payroll. Do you really want a slumlord for governor? I don’t.
Not sure where a couple do the comments are coming from… Collin and his family live near Lums. His kids are in Appo (when’s the last time we had a governor with kids in an actual public school???). He coaches his daughter’s basketball and soccer teams at the Bear Y. He’s been working on environmental justice projects across the state and he helps out a bunch of local non-profits. There are plenty of issues where we need to know where he stands, like schools and healthcare, but the idea that he’s not sufficiently involved in Delaware is not a real thing…
Some of the doubts might come from the fact that his wife isn’t listed as living there (probably still registered in MD). Or that he lives in the same RD as me (and has for a while) and I have never seen him at a Dem function until about 4 months ago. Even then, almost no one talked to him.
So he may actually live here, but he certainly has worked to keep himself invisible, politically, for a while now.
In a small state, there is no excuse to not show up. For all his faults, Matt shows up consistently and makes himself accessible to the public. Voters have a short memory and Colin will have a lot of work to do to re-introduce himself to the electorate.
Pretty cool to be married and reside with someone who is also qualified to run for governor in another state entirely. Is one of the kids primarying Menendez in New Jersey?
I do know that his wife had a home in Maryland when they met. He lived in Wilmington. She ran for Maryland governor in 2018 and lost the Democratic primary. I have a friend whose daughter attends school with one of Collin’s school-age daughters- in Delaware!
If these three candidates for governor want to win over Sussex Democrats, they should help flip the 37th RD and help Jane Hovington win the Dec 21 Special Election
Because supporting a homophobe who can’t as County Chair fill her OWN committee is a prerequisite, NOT!
I take SW’s point. Sussex Dems and more party-centered D’s will be involved, and it would help to have those running for higher office to help turn out the vote.
Looks like Kerri Evelyn Harris wife didn’t get the homophobe memo. She is Jane’s treasurer.
Everybody can evaluate the candidates record for themselves, the evidence is there.
Hmm, with all due respect to Collin O’Mara. He fits the definition of a Carpetbagger almost exactly as defined. At least the others are homegrown blah politicians. This actually makes Delaware looks pretty bad. How hard is it to get someone to run for Governor as that is clean and from/dedicated to the state? Why is this so difficult!
If he runs, I put my money on BHL to win.
I’m curious why you think that. I don’t agree, namely because BHL has no/will have no money to compete. Collin at this point won’t either, though I won’t be surprised if he ends the year with 50-100% of BHL’s cash on hand. Someone doesn’t get in a race this late because she’s a strong candidate. She was the slight favorite, but not by much – and that was before all of the campagin finance revelations. I’m not sure how losing any ability to raise money, plus having a new story released every day just ripping her to shreds, increases her chances.
She’s a third place finisher here and that assumes that she continues in the race until september, which is doubtful. but maybe you’re right.
I don’t think O’Mara can muster enough support to win outright, and I think he’ll take more votes from Meyer than from BHL. On a macro level, if it’s among two flawed men and one flawed woman, the woman will win.
You might be surprised by the lack of information voters have about any of this. I was with a number of older but politically active Democrats the other night. One had a strong negative opinion of Meyer. The others were only dimly aware of BHL’s problems, and until I told them to look into it they were solidly in her camp. Her inevitability has been drilled into people for years now.
Delaware is small. Money is not that important if you’re targeting the ads properly. Besides, a politician who needs money is a politician who can be bought, and those almost always find buyers.
Obviously, I can’t bet on a horse that scratches, so if she drops out it would get interesting. But I don’t think she will over money. She might if what’s left of the mainstream media does a takedown.
This all looks accurate to me.
I don’t disagree, but have some thoughts to add…
(1) MM will have more than enough money to “educate” voters about BHL’s alleged stealing of campaign funds
(2) I used to think that Delaware primary voters were low information, but I think the Kathy McGuinness loss may have changed my mind about that. Lydia York didn’t run an amazing campaign, very few resources, etc. But, Kathy still decisively lost (even in her home RD)–presumably because voters read the news and internalized the drip-drip-drip of her scandal. If the BHL story continues to drip out, I bet it will sink in with voters. Plus, see above about MM having the money to educate on it.
(3) I’ve heard some people compare this to LBR vs. Townsend vs. Barney in 2016. But I think that’s too simplistic…LBR didn’t have BHL’s scandal, plus…from my memory, she spent by far the most money in the race (she was certainly on TV the longest/most).
TLDR: If I was BHL, I would be very happy with Collin running. Without Collin, I think she’d lose 70-30 at least. But, I still think the odds are strong she will finish 3rd in this field.
LBR had the Delaware Way firmly in her corner as well. It’s why she could afford TV ads.
And apparently BHL paid for TV ads on her personal credit card that she reimbursed from the $300k “loan” she made to the campaign. Who can afford to put that much on a credit card? Air time is expensive, especially in Philadelphia market.
If the details come out she’s toast, I agree, and if they do I think she’ll drop out.
Meyer’s problem, from what I can tell, is Meyer. I’ve never met him, but he doesn’t always make a positive impression. People tell me he’s “smarmy” and “phony,” and add to that the people he’s pissed off with his performance as NCCo exec. My reluctance is based on his support among the stunted Castle/Levin wing of the GOP.
I think O’Mara must figure he’s got nothing to lose, because he can make more money in the private sector anyway. Don’t know what it does to his role in the hydrogen project, which I suppose is dead if Trump is re-elected anyway.
You know who Matt reminds me of? Dave Levinson. I liked Dave and volunteered on his campaign against Bill Roth.
I like Matt, but I get that he’s not for everybody. Think he’d be a good governor, though…
Wow, you play all the golden oldies. Agree.
I think the “smarmy and phony” thing is Matt putting on his politician outfit which, like Levinson’s, is not as well-tailored as others, because underneath it is a very intelligent and capable person who actually wants to get some good things done.
I don’t know that she makes it to January 1. Especially since I doubt that she’s raised any significant money since she opted back in.
We’ll know soon as campaign finance reports will be coming in just a few weeks.
Meyer can pin the Bloom Energy deal around Collin’s neck and that should be enough to sink him. That was a horrible deal for Delaware and Delmarva Power customers, specifically. Over promised on the job impact and under estimated the cost impact to customers.
That probably won’t be necessary, as O’Mara has no name recognition.
Anyway, Meyer’s big stumbling block is how many people come away from meeting him with an icky feeling.
By its language, section 6 of Article 3 of the State Constitution requires a Governor to have been an “inhabitant” of the State for at least 6 years before the date of the election. For the upcoming 2024 gubernatorial election, that would appear to require that the candidates have lived continuously in DE since Nov. 2018.
There is no evidence that he hasn’t lived in that Delaware home. He has voted from that address, his kids apparently go to school from that address and he has actual sewer bills from that address since he bought it in 2015.
You’ll have to bark up some other tree.
Man, we could’ve used your help when we were trying to do a (figurative) deep dive into Dave McBride’s sewers. Or, at least, his sewer bills…
I suspect that the interpretation would include ‘having maintained a residence’. And, I suspect, having voted in Delaware.
Not that it stopped Elaine Manlove from somehow finding that Park City Kathy was eligible to run for office–even though she moved there and voted in Utah.