O’Mara’s In

Filed in Delaware by on March 13, 2024

Former DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara filed the paperwork, becoming the first Democrat to enter the race for governor. His pitch: Democrats control every statewide office and both houses of the General Assembly, so it’s up to Democrats to solve the state’s problems. He made his pitch with a tour of all three counties today and a campaign video.

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  1. MonteCristo says:

    Like a child at a family party who wants to play the violin, I guess we just have to smile and say what a nice job. But the adults need to get back to talking.

    • Alby says:

      Are you including yourself among the adults? Because you’ve been wrong twice already today.

      • MonteCristo says:

        You can’t be the only person often wrong on here Abby. Just trying to keep you company mon ami. But yes I was wrong about the Eugene thing. It happens.

  2. C’mon. I support Matt Meyer, but that kind of condescension resonates with nobody.

    Better to focus on the multitude of questions I and almost certainly others have on his involvement in the Bloom fiasco. I’ve read accounts that make it seem that this was much more an O’Mara initiative than even a Markell initiative.

    Since each of us pays hundreds of dollars a month in utility fees thanks to Bloom, he owes the voters answers on that.

    • Beach Bird says:

      I’ve heard O’Mara KILLED it in his WFP interview, like gave very solid answers.

  3. Stating says:

    He turned heads at the MOT and Newark candidate forums. I wouldn’t sleep on him.

    Meyer and Hall Long weren’t exactly drumming alota hype up on their own.

  4. MonteCristo says:

    Tell Tammy Murphy that

    • Alby says:

      “Election fatigue will keep many home until the general.”

      With no incumbent governor or mayor of Wilmington? I don’t think so. There were 120,000 ballots cast in the 2020 primary and I’d expect about the same this year.

      • Alby says:

        There was no “Biden bump” in the primary. The presidential primary is separate.

        We’re talking about the primary, not the general. Everybody on the ballot will be Democrats. And your 12% figure is for all voters. About one-third of the electorate is registered Democratic.

        Your expectations don’t really enter the conversation, since you have no track record on this. You’re just making stuff up.

        • Alby says:

          Dude, the GOTV campaign had nothing to do with a September primary. And since when did people vote for post office or library jobs?

          Yes, few people vote in primary elections. This has always been the case. The bump in 2020 can be attributed to various factors, but remember that the vote wasn’t gotten out in the traditional way. Half the ballots were mailed in, and making it easier to vote probably had more to do with increased turnout than any other factor.

          To your main point: Who is the other progressive? Meyer? He might position himself that way, but Meyer is being backed by the pro-business Republicans – how progressive do you think he’ll be on economic issues?

      • Alby says:

        Oh please. You’re talking through your hat now.

        The reason we won’t get a repeat, provided we don’t, is that mail-in ballots have been disallowed.

        O’Mara is positioning himself as the progressive. I don’t have a candidate, thought I’m anti-corruption and therefore anti-BHL.

        As for me showing you anything, fuck off. You’ve proven resistant to everything I’ve tried to explain so far. You’ve shown you don’t really know dick, and I’m getting tired of it.

      • puck says:

        At least Alby’s outlet allows comments.

  5. BLT says:

    O’mara’s in as a pawn to split the vote in favor of BHL. That’s it.

    • Jason says:

      This makes sense to me. BHL is the clear the choice of professional Democrats. And this is exactly how professional Democrats operate.

      • Will says:

        In this scenario:

        1. O’Mara is working alongside a cabal of professional Democrats to put BHL in office for his own purposes, or

        2. O’Mara is a dupe, lured into the race by people who want BHL to win, have run the numbers, and know she has a better chance if he’s there.

        Which is it?

  6. MonteCristo says:

    I really don’t think BHL matters at this point. She doesn’t have any money and she certainly won’t have more now that someone with more access to DC money than her will be in the race. She also doesn’t have the overall support some of you think she does. Her name recognition is about the same as meyers and her favorables were about the same too – and that was before she’s had a continued several months of bad press. And yes people do pay attention to that. People don’t like their leaders to be morally compromised liars and excuse makers. This idea that no one pays attention to the news to know she’s a crook but everyone pays attention to the news enough to know anything about the lt governor outside of the fact that she’s a crook, is very obviously self contradictory. The simple fact is they didn’t know about her and now voters do and what they know is she’s a liar and a crook.

    My money is still on Meyer and I guess Collin O’Mara in second. BHL will come in third. O’Mara didn’t get in because meyers people were looking for an alternative. They’ve got their winning horse.

  7. Alby says:

    “Her name recognition is about the same as meyers and her favorables were about the same too”

    You have access to data that shows this?

    Where has this “several months of bad press” appeared? TNJ has run a couple of inconclusive stories.

    About 120,000 people voted in the 2020 Democratic primaries. TNJ’s circulation is below 12,000. People have not paid attention to this because most of them pay no attention to politics and don’t know any specifics.

    The number of uninformed voters is far larger than the number of informed voters in this no-real-media age, and a lot of uninformed voters, confronted with a choice among two men and one woman, will vote for the woman.

    I have no idea who will win before the first negative ad has appeared, but counting out BHL is crazy. She has a dedicated bloc of voters, and the loyalty of downstaters. Meyer – no “s” at the end – has a dedicated bloc of neighborhood activist types who hate him, and is pretty clearly the choice of the Castle-to-Markell Republicans.

    O’Mara has no constituency at this point, but he must have some polling that shows he’s got a chance or he wouldn’t have pulled the trigger. OTOH, if he’s counting on winning by courting the progressive vote he’s swimming upstream – progressives are not in the majority within the state Democratic Party.

  8. The MoMo says:

    My gut says this spoils BHL in favor of Meyer, not the opposite. If his argument is “what have Dems done anyway” that is a hit on her that doesnt harm Meyer. Interested to see if Carney shifts, not that I care either way.

    • Anon says:

      Why is that not also a knock on Meyer – an 8 year chief executive of Delaware’s largest county?

      • Alby says:

        Because the county doesn’t have anything to do with most of the issues he raises. The county has no role in education, to cite the biggest example.

  9. Jason says:

    It falls strangely on my brain, and seems odd for me to read comments from people giving the edge to Meyer over BHL. It makes me wonder if this is spin, or if these comments are genuinely arrived at.

    I’d love to have a beer and discuss this race with someone (not connected to Meyer) who thinks he has the edge.

  10. Arthur says:

    in regards to the race i’ll go with meyer simply for the fact he’s not as corrupt as bhl and i still will never be over paying $ to bloom and omara was also around during the fisker disaster that cost a ton of money (btw fisker is filing for bankruptcy again) he carries too much of the markell stench for me