DL’s MVP’s (Most Valuable To The Progressive Cause) Of 2024
I must first explain the omission of both Sarah McBride and Kyle Evans Gay from this year’s list. Yes, I’m thrilled that both have moved on to higher office. Yes, their legislative work deserves recognition on this list. The only reason I’ve left them off is, through no fault of their own, the State Senate is now less progressive due to the insiders who nominated Delaware Way drones to replace them. I’m sure Sarah and Kyle will be back on the list as early as next year as they are two of the best and the brightest to come along in a long time. Hope I’m still on their Christmas Card lists…
OK, here we go, as always, in reverse numerical order. You know, a countdown:
10. Matt Meyer. He defeated the incompetent/ethically-bankrupt Delaware Way candidate and struck a blow against insiderism. He could well rise higher on this list, or could disappear altogether, depending on what kind of Governor he becomes.
9. Sen. Spiros Mantzavinos and Rep. Kendra Johnson. For their ongoing efforts to protect residents of Delaware’s long-term care facilities and assisted living facilities. Righteous work.
8. Nicky Beard and Monica Shockley-Porter. While they didn’t win, they ran progressive campaigns that resonated with a lot of voters. I know they will continue to make a difference.
7. Sascha Bretzger, Makenley Jean, Jhilmil Pandit, Justice Porter, Justin Porter, Cherish Robinson, Drew Serres, Mikki Snyder-Hall, Allison Stampone, Gary Steelman, Karl Stomberg, Josh Whittaker. Grassroots campaigns succeeded again this year because of people dedicated to doing everything from knocking on doors, to raising money, to coordinating and training volunteers. These are a few of the key contributors to those campaigns. Please add more names!
6. Kevin Caneco, Jane Gruenebaum, Coby Owens, Christian Willauer. A lot of stealthy progress revolved around the election of these four progressives to their respective County and Municipal Councils. Willy-nilly development may well suffer. It will also be interesting to see what Coby and Christian bring to Delaware’s Most Dysfunctional Legislative Body.
5. Paul Baumbach. A final year befitting his entire term in office. I hope and expect that all of the tireless effort he put into his End Of Life Options bill will come to fruition early in the new year. His career reminds me a lot of that of Rep. J. J. Johnson, who quietly made an impact that resonates today.
4. Reverend Patrick Burke. The conscience and voice that Wilmington needs. While the entire city power structure seeks to gentrify at the expense of the poor and the houseless, Rev. Burke has rallied those in Wilmington who have a conscience to give voice to the voiceless. As well as shelter, clothing and food. Perhaps City Council will awaken to the injustices being perpetrated on their fellow human beings by the heartless actions of Mayor Mike and his clueless soon-to-be successor.
3. Karl Baker, Cris Barrish, Randall Chase, Briana Hill, Sarah Mueller, Nick Stonesifer. We sure needed them this year, and they delivered. Great reporting from great reporters. They exposed pretty much every scandal that the likes of John Carney and BHL tried to keep hidden. You’ll read lots of their great work if/when you click onto the links in the upcoming ‘2024: The Good, The Bad, The Ridiculous’. Spotlight Delaware and WHYY are now my go-to sources for Delaware news, and Randall Chase of the Associated Press does a great job covering the legislative beat and Dover doings in general that the News-Journal has just decided not to cover any more. You can read him in ‘Bay To Bay’. If I missed any names, please add them.
2. Frank Burns and Claire Snyder-Hall. It’s one thing to bid farewell to Pete Schwartzkopf, Kathy McGuiness and Mike Ramone. And also to defeat Val’s trust fund baby in a primary. It’s quite another to have Frank Burns and Claire Snyder-Hall taking their places (or would-be places) in the General Assembly. Progressive stalwarts in, Delaware Way insiders out. The State House Of Representatives is immediately a better place. And that’s before…
1. Kamela Smith. Kam was so nervous about possibly running against Our PAL Val Longhurst that she initially only formed an exploratory committee. Yes, there was pressure from the Usual Suspects for her not to run. Once she committed, she ran one of the best grassroots campaigns you’ll ever see. She raised enough money to be competitive and, most importantly, she made such a tremendous impression on the voters she met. She is a true empath. I can’t imagine anyone meeting her and not liking her. She had so many friends and volunteers who wanted to help her, and they sure did. This campaign had vibes so similar to Marie Pinkney’s campaign in 2020. With the same palpable joy that came with victory. I don’t need to remind our readers what ridding the General Assembly of the malevolent presence of Longhurst means. I know for a fact that some of the happiest people were staffers who were forced to ‘volunteer’ for Val. It remains to be seen how much more progressive the House will be with the new additions. What has already happened, at least, is that the morale in the House has skyrocketed. I hope you all get a chance to meet her. Kam Smith is our MVP of 2024. Was there ever any doubt?
Good list! I would only move #4 to #1 but I am passionate about our unhoused neighbors and Fr. Burke is a gentle man of courage. With Michael Kalmbach and the Creative Vision Factory removed from Shipley St. SSAM and Friendship house is the only anchor left downtown. Fr, Burke is a fierce principled advocate with the support of his flock. I am grateful that he is there to stand up to the bench cutting, cruelty and harassment that continues to plague our less fortunate neighbors.
https://www.friendshiphousede.org/delaware-homeless/our-programs/
Father Burke is probably the only person who could get me to join in a protest nowadays. Anytime, anywhere.
Hard to trust Meyer… how is he letting a far right, 2nd amendment, gun store owner stay in his cabinet?!
He’s on the list for the reason I mentioned: He defeated BHL.
Not sure who the gun store owner is, but, if they have nothing to do with gun policy, and if they’re competent, then I don’t see the problem.
You’re either talking about Shante Hastings, Josette Manning or Steven Yeatman, the holdovers so far. Yeatman has a military background and is a combat veteran. Does he own a gun store?
If it’s Yeatman, he’s been involved in family and youth services since 2009:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-yeatman-48aa6a79
Hard to argue with his qualifications.
Great list overall, but I gotta be a DSA partisan and call Terrell Williams’s absence a snub here: he came closer than any other losing Dem candidate in the general election in DE this year.
Also if you’re going to include the grassroots campaign staffers I recommend adding Jamila Davey for Christian Willauer’s campaign, Chris Sinkiewicz for Shané Darby’s campaign (though he lives in Philly, so not sure if that renders him ineligible), and Yaren Kandaz for Madinah’s campaign (while unopposed they held canvasses to maintain name recognition and for up ballot/down ballot progressives).
Agree with you on the names of the staffers.
Disagree with you on Terrell Williams. As I pointed out in a previous thread, you had to really WORK to not raise money the way that Williams did not raise money.
He’s run three times now, hasn’t been competitive in any of those races.
Starting to think he’s a progressive vanity candidate.
I know we have not always been in agreement on things but, I want to take the opportunity to wish everyone a happy Festivus. Festivus for the rest of us.
And Happy Holidays to all
I so agree with Jane making the list! Eastern sussex did some great things this election cycle. Let’s rock and roll in 2025!
Thanks for all you do.
You’re so right about Eastern Sussex.
I didn’t even mention Russ Huxtable, who some said was a goner. He’s doing fantastic work in the General Assembly.
Others will know this much better than me, but will the replacements for Sarah and Kyle be reliable votes for medical aid in dying? The senate vote last year was 11-10, so they have literally no room to lose even a single vote. El Som, perhaps you can give a general assessment of where things stand.
Oh, and Merry Christmas and all that other good stuff to contributors and readers at DL.
I can’t. I…THINK that they’ll support, but I can’t be sure.
If Seigfried votes yes, it will only be due to political calculation as he stands for nothing, other than what ChristianaCare stands for.
Great list!
Certainly pumped i went from Val and bell to Caneco and Kamela as my reps. Such upgrades and it’s already apparent by both reaching out.
Also happy for frank and sad to see Paul leave.
Maybe beard will try again?
Matt beating BHL was the best thing for all of us. Matt isn’t perfect but dang ridding Dover of the carney bhl stink was so needed.
Kind of surprised to see Spiros on a progressive top 10, especially out-ranking Meyer. I understand he had some good policy in long term care this year, but I look back at the sum of his work in the senate and prior career(s) and am left unimpressed. Do you think the former shill for the refinery has seen the error of his ways, or that by tossing him a carrot he might continue this seemingly newfound progressive streak?
I’m a bit sad to see that none of our local Wilmington activists made the cut this year. I think Haneef Salaam deserves a shoutout for staying the course even in the face of pushback from the city and the police. Lord knows we need his positive vibes…
I definitely should have considered Haneef. Consider him added to the Father Burke entry. I hope to see (and perhaps be part of) increased opposition to the excesses of Purzycki/Carney in 2025
As to Spiros, I hear you. But the annual list in general looks just at this year, and I think that the work that he and Kendra Johnson have done on behalf of a lot of people who would otherwise never be heard is admirable.
I think this may be your first comment here. Keep on commenting!
I’d like to send a solid “fuck you” to Democrat Mike Smith. Not only did he publicly state he’d donate to Burns if he won, he also said he’d knock doors for him. He did neither.
But the big issue is that during an election cycle when we were likely to get Trump as a president he fucked with a solid candidate’s path forward (Burns) by lying about him. Had Burns lost the primary the R’s would have cleaned Smith’s clock. He has a lot of dirt under his nails that the R’s would’ve made known and our district would have remained red. Now more than ever we need as many Dems in the legislature as possible. And I am personally pissed off that myself and neighbors had to donate and volunteer to secure our district when we could’ve been helping Nick Beard. Not that we don’t like him a lot, but Burns’ campaign otherwise would’ve ran itself and we may have wrangled the 22nd into our camp as well. But what else should we have expected from an entitled little rich white boy?
TLDR; Both Mike Smiths are a cancer to progressive causes.
Also, fuck this weather. If my commute home is as slippery as my commute to work was this morning I might need Donner and Blixen.
Merry Christmas!
Another great use for our blog:
Primal Scream Therapy.
Hey, thanks so much for the shout out, El Som!
Great list. There are a ton of people I’d like to praise here but I don’t know how open they can be due to their jobs/families, so I’ll stick to ones who have run for office since I know they’re at liberty to be open about the causes they support.
1. Vivian Houghton. This woman is amazing. She’s a tireless ally who is as kind as she is tenacious. She helped out numerous progressive candidates and even in the sweltering heat she would take double turfs. Her grit is mighty admirable.
2. Sue Sander. Another amazing woman! She, too, helped out multiple progressive candidates while doing a lot for Red Clay School Board. She’s passionate, articulate, and a truly wonderful person.
3. LDM & DM. They’ve both sought/held office and do a lot for multiple progressives but I don’t know how open they can be given their businesses and other volunteer work. Probably safe to name them but I’m not 100% sure so I’ll just say THANK YOU to them because they’ve earned the gratitude of many.
4. Mara Gorman. She showed up for a lot of candidates, as always, but this time she did it while running her own campaign. Very happy that the fine folks in the 23rd will continue to have great representation. There are many there who’s praises deserve to be sung, but again, I’m not sure how open their jobs permit them to be so I’ll leave it at that.
5. Madinah Wilson-Anton, Laura Sturgeon, & Eric Morrison. They were among the first legislators to endorse the 21st’s best candidate and it was much appreciated. Brilliant, resourceful folks who we’re all lucky to have in the legislature.
I’d also like to praise Jonathan Tate for getting behind Shay Frisbee. I don’t know if there were other progressives in that RD who stepped aside to make it easier for Shay. If so, a tip of the hat to them, too. Gotta respect folks who put the causes ahead of personal aspirations! We need more folks like that.
There are many more who deserve a shout out, especially those from MDA and IHB; individuals like CSM, RS, EB, LD, AM, CM & JM; as well as some amazing young people like J, M, & K. Using initials here because I don’t know enough about their career/family situations to be certain they’d like to be named.
Correction: Meant to say “in that SD” rather than RD
Sue Sander and Jonathan Tate both personally deserve shout-outs from me.
Got to knock doors with both of them this year. I’m partial to people who knock doors.