Delaware Political Weekly: Dec. 15-21, 2023

 1. 37th RD Special Election Post-Mortem:  First of all, the Delaware Department of Elections can kiss my ass.  I’m writing this at 9:05 on election night.  The issue isn’t that we have no results, although we don’t. But that there’s no place on the DOE site where you can even find the results.  Is DOE perhaps spending so much effort on reviewing BHL’s financial statements that they plum forgot about the Special?  Short answer? No.  Guess I’ll just have to finish this blurb tomorrow. Nope. Results were just posted.  Turns out I was optimistic about the D GOTV game:  Giltner: 1805; Hovington: 1068. A write-in candidate got 4 votes.  Riddle me this:  Can someone please explain why, in a county with an active and successful Democratic Party on the eastern shore, the so-called Party leadership comes from the Jesusland portion of the county?  That so-called leadership has been at best innocuous and at worst an impediment to progress.  The Party’s strength is in the eastern portion of the County, and that’s where the new leaders should come from.  Yo, Betsy, are you paying attention?  Anybody but Mitch Crane will do.  Uh, anybody but Mitch Crane or Jack Bucchioni.

2.  Death Rattle For BHL’s Campaign? Following what looked like a pretty dismal fundraiser, what is Bethany Hall-Long’s path forward?  We’ll know the financial state of her campaign once she files her hopefully factual year-end campaign finance report.  I think she’s done.  I hope she hangs around long enough to further damage her closest lackeys–aka Our PAL Val and Nicole ‘No Longer’ Poore.  She has already performed a public service by identifying for all to see which elected officials are willing to overlook blatant election law violations.   Might I suggest that they all be gifted “I Am Totally Devoid Of Ethics” T-shirts?

3. Some Endorsements Are Worth More Than Others.  While John Carney may have put his arm around the substantial shoulders of Eugene Young at an event at the home of, wait for it, Claire DeMatteis and Michael Marquardt,  Sarah McBride won the endorsement of the Congressional Progressive Caucus:

“Sarah McBride personifies commitment to building government that acts as an instrument of the common good,” said Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC Co-Chairs Reps. Mark Pocan, Pramila Jayapal and Jamie Raskin. “In the Delaware state Senate, Sarah has been a proven progressive changemaker and a forceful advocate for Delaware families, helping to raise the minimum wage and pass landmark paid family and medical leave legislation. As the first openly transgender state senator in our country’s history, Sarah has been a national inspiration and her leadership is needed in Congress. We are proud to endorse her campaign.”

I think that pretty much every member of ‘The Squad’ is part of the caucus, as is, much to my surprise, Lisa Blunt Rochester.  I’m honestly starting to wonder how Eugene can effectively challenge Sarah.  He was touted as the more progressive of the two, and he is progressive,  but he’s in general not gotten that much progressive support, at least not at the national level.   I doubt that dim-bulb Carney has that much influence with primary voters, except perhaps with conservative Irish Catholics.  Don’t see them flocking to Eugene seeing as how they flocked to Mike Purzycki when he faced Eugene back in 2016.  I suspect that Eugene’s year-end campaign finance report could well influence his campaign moving forward.   My unsolicited thought?:  Keep the federal campaign committee open and raise money to challenge Chris Coons in 2026.

4.  Will Lazy-Ass Colin Bonini Actually Run?  Fellow Republican Susanne Whitney is now on the ballot for the Register Of Wills spot.  While Bonini has filed his committee for the office, he has not yet paid the filing fee to get on the ballot.  I’m calling it: He will lose.  His political future looks much like Lee Murphy’s past–an obsessive candidate who gets comfortable with losing.  Don’t forget, he’s run for something virtually every cycle.  A willing sacrificial overstuffed lamb. Besides, with 19 years as a paralegal, Whitney is the only qualified R in the race.

5.  How Can A MAGA Republican Run In A Democratic Primary?  Well, he can change his registration.  But Rob Burton, who filed for the ballot this week, has nothing even approaching Democratic bona fides.  Here’s but one of his posts:

THIS is who Pop-Gun Pete wants to be his successor.  I’m callin’ it: Ain’t gonna happen.   Pete is disgracing himself just as he did with Kathy McGuiness.  A pathetic way for him to exit the stage. And completely appropriate.

That’s all I’ve got.  What’d I miss, and whaddayathink?