BREAKING!!! We Now Have THE MOST IMPORTANT LEGISLATIVE RACE OF 2024!!!!
If anything, seven exclamation points aren’t enough. Far be it from me to engage in hyperbole (he lied), but this immediately jumps to the top of the list.
The challenger? Her name is Kamela Smith. She’s incredible. More on her in just a moment.
The incumbent? Our PAL Val Longhurst. Delaware’s most corrupt legislator who, not coincidentally, is also the Speaker Of The House.
The candidate and her team have been preparing this campaign for months, and were waiting for just the right time to file. That time has arrived as she has now filed her campaign committee.
Kamela Smith is the Director Of Community Education & Engagement For Christiana Care. She earned her B. A. in Sociology from the University of Pittsburgh, and her M. Ed. from Wilmington University.
She’s the past co-chair of Wilmington University’s Alumni Association; Board Member of the Kalmar Nyckel; a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, which focuses on civil rights and social action; and is Co-Director of Seeds Of Greatness Ministry.
In other words, she already has a strong grassroots network in place even before you add in all the people who Val has fired. Her campaign team is as first-rate as you can possibly get. I’m telling you, Kamela starts out in a much better position than Marie Pinkney was when she took on and defeated the President Pro Tem of the Delaware State Senate in 2020. Lest you think leadership is an automatic pass to reelection, may I submit to you the following names: Terry Spence, Tony DeLuca, John Viola, Patti Blevins, Dave McBride, Larry Mitchell, plus several Rethug leaders who hardly count. All were in leadership when they were defeated.
I had a chance to hear her presentation months ago, and I’ve been dying to let everyone know about her candidacy ever since. Today I can!
If Kamela wins, we will finally drive a stake through the casual corruption that has been the defining feature of the House these last twelve years. We will remove impediments to serious progressive legislation including LEOBOR reform. When Marie Pinkney won, the Senate became an engine for progressive change. If Kamela wins, the House can join the Senate in bringing the kind of change that the vast majority of Delawareans want. (Memo to self: Order up a couple new pair of Hokas…)
We’ll have the Donate Info in a couple of hours as it takes about that long to activate an Act Blue account. We’ll also post her website once we get the go-ahead. If anyone’s concerned about Val retribution, you can donate less than $100 as that information will be kept confidential. Kamela will spend the next month meeting with voters and raising money. This race is very winnable. No matter how much money Val has, it can’t make her a decent human being. Kamela is a wonderful human being.
If you haven’t yet gotten involved in a campaign, make it this one!
“Lest you think leadership is an automatic pass to reelection…”
With that list it actually seems like more of a liability.
Let’s hope so.
What’s also great is that Val won’t be able to help out her peeps since she’ll be locked down in her district. In what I think will be a losing effort. I, uh, don’t look for Melissa Minor Brown or Kerri Harris to pick up the slack for her.
Or, for that matter, to campaign in her district.
Maybe she can force the Other Mike Smith to do his job rather than engaging in a pointless primary against Frank Burns…
Get that ACT BLUE goin’ !
Ditto!
“Val Longhurst. Delaware’s most corrupt legislator” given your “warning” yesterday, you can prove this statement is true?
Have you not been reading this blog for the last few years? How she parlayed her leadership position into a job she got at PAL? The corrupt dealings behind the Underground City At Ft. DuPont? The blatant lies she told to legislators’ faces?
Seriously, type ‘Longhurst’ into the search tool and read piece after piece. Then get back to me.
Warning: There’s lots of them.
Much needed change is coming!
It’s time for politics to look different. It’s time for a fresh perspective and humble servants of the people.
When we supported Marie against Dave, sure it was important incentive and a driver to beat him. But that alone would not have been enough. We needed Marie, the person, the woman and the amazing candidate she was and the Senator she has become. No two people are the same, but Ms. Smith is also an amazing candidate and while I have not yet met her, I trust folks that have that tell me she is an amazing person. This is the combination that will drive her victory!
This is fabulous news. Kamela Smith is the REAL DEAL.
For those wondering–Department of Elections has added some new requirements, which slowed down the filing process yesterday.
As soon as her site goes live today, I will post it along with the DONATE link.
PAL Val’s terrorizing of the House D’s caucus and legislative hall in general needs to come to an end. She’s a nasty and vindictive bigot who is bullying her whole caucus into supporting that crook BHL all because she thinks she’ll be able to control Hall-Long and manipulate her. And, frankly, she’;s probably not wrong there. We need to make sure to rally ALL of our volunteers to knock doors for Kamela Smith so we can end Val’s reign of terror over that building in Dover.
Waiting to donate as soon as possible.
Same here. I keep checking back, will let you know as soon as the Act Blue account is finalized.
Never heard of this person until today. WDEL quotes her as a “regular citizen” My guess is she is pulling down a cool 6 figures as “community engagement director” at Christiana. Seems like a professional networker and has her hands in a lot of pies but we need some concrete evidence that she can get something meaningful. Hell she’s on the board at kalmar, which has always been a tax-advantaged way for some dupont heirs to play pirate. Seems to be rubbing elbows with a lot of chamber-of-commerce types. I smell stakeholder.
Dear Val and Bethany, is your best troll? Weak ladies:)
I’d vote for JoJo the Dog-Faced Boy to get Longhurst out of there. Why wouldn’t you?
I’d like to see Val gone, just show me that this new lady isn’t the same or worse. All I see is someone who has a background in soft policy. Show us a few concrete initiatives that she has implemented. Demonstrate how she handles money. Can she stand firm and take unpopular stances.
El Som was giving the third degree to some kid who was just starting out in politics at the school board level, but this lady doesn’t seem to have any more experience in an elected office and she is being lauded. So, tell me what I’m missing here.
You’re missing how bad Longhurst is. A newbie can’t be worse because she’ll lack the power Longhurst has.
She won’t be handling money as a back-bencher. And she has tons more work experience than Longhurst ever had.
Seriously, you’re gonna have to do better than that to look credible.
The dude getting the “3rd degree” is a serial filer and proven loser with no apparent qualifications. You are bad at this:)
You could read the portions of her bio that I posted.
Better yet, here is her bio in her own words:
https://www.kamelasmithfordelaware.com/about
Gotta laugh at you trolls–either the challenger has ‘never had a real job in their life’, or ‘they’re placeholders for the Chamber’. Without evidence.
Read the fucking bio, then comment.
Yah, I’m sure Pitt and WilmU are just handing out degrees, and Christiana assigns positions of actual responsibility based on schmoozworthiness. What is it, exactly, that Val studied before working for an insurance company that gets sued a lot for fraud, tax evasion and other misdeeds?
The fact that an obvious troll hasn’t heard of her is a plus in my book.
Yes I’m sure ReelDeel is very concerned about progressive purity. And the woman is a director at one of the states largest corporations and I believe it’s largest employer. Val did what before her government gig? And her fake job working for the cops?
Her chickens are coming home to roost. Maybe her and bhl can start a lobbying shop after this. And their staff can go find jobs in other states because I can’t imagine them being employable at this point. Hopefull Matt and Colin are keeping a list. That would be a fun thing for this blog to do at some point.
From the time she first challenged Bruce Reynolds back in 2002 (lost the first time, won the second time) until she got the PAL gig, she was not employed.
She was trying to land a job, though, and complained to anyone in Leg Hall who would listen. Speaker Pete and his kop kronies at the PAL finally got the message, and hired her, and she’s helped to bury any police reform legislation ever since.
Here’s a fun challenge for the entire state: show why Valerie Maglio Longhurst, as she now styles herself, should be Speaker of the House despite the lack of any obvious qualifications for the job.
Do it