DL Open Thread: Tuesday, August 5, 2025
Today’s Special Election: Any prediction I make would be based solely on the perceptions of others. Other than making a modest contribution, I’ve not been involved in the race at all. With that caveat, the general sense from those I’ve talked to is that D Alonna Berry is the slight favorite over R Nikki Miller. The voter registration edge nominally favors the D’s: 8394 D; 7657 R; 7077 I. Whereas in the past independents have skewed R, this district has a growing number of Federal retirees who are not likely to be sympathetic to any R at this point. Kamala Harris won the 20th by a 54-45 margin. Any lingering resentment from the Stell Parker Selby debacle could fade in the face of what Trump has been doing. That’s all I’ve got. What about you?
‘Just The Cost Of Doing Business’:
In what officials say is the largest environmental settlement ever won by a state, chemical giants Chemours, DuPont and Corteva agreed on Monday to pay New Jersey $875 million over the next quarter-century to settle claims linked to pollution from so-called “forever chemicals.”
Under the deal, the companies are required to fund the cleanup of four former industrial sites, create a remediation fund of up to $1.2 billion and set aside a reserve of $475 million to ensure that the cleanup will be completed if any of the companies go bankrupt or default.
The agreement brings to justice “corporate polluters who, for decades, have knowingly contaminated our land and water with PFAS and other dangerous chemicals,” said New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin in a statement, referring to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which are also known as “forever chemicals.”
“PFAS are particularly insidious,” Mr. Platkin wrote. “These dangerous chemicals build up and accumulate everywhere, and New Jersey has some of the highest levels of PFAS in the country.”
States and cities that boycott Israeli companies will be denied grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to grant notices posted by the agency in recent days.
The new eligibility criteria could restrict access to at least $1.9 billion earmarked for search-and-rescue equipment, emergency manager salaries and backup power systems used during blackouts, Reuters reported.
To be eligible for federal funds, the grant notices say that states and cities must follow the “terms and conditions” set forth by the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of FEMA. Since April, D.H.S. has prohibited grantees from “limiting commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies.”
The policy underscores how the Trump administration has linked its stance on Israel to unrelated federal funding, including billions of dollars in research grants for colleges and universities. But the move to restrict FEMA grants may be largely symbolic, because no states — and only a handful of cities — have enacted laws or policies that prohibit state agencies from doing business with Israeli firms.
Have I missed something? I can’t recall a single state with a D governor that has gotten FEMA relief under Trump. Take Kentucky, for example. Pretty much the only Democratic presence in the state is the Governor.
Could The Texas D’s Legislative Boycott Work? Signs point to ‘yes’:
But Abbott’s options to compel those Democrats — whose departure to Illinois and other states is preventing the state Legislature from conducting any business — to return and vote are more constrained and legally uncertain than he let on. And they may take significant time to resolve in court.
Importantly, breaking quorum is not a crime. However, if the absentee Democratic lawmakers remained in Texas, Abbott could order state troopers to haul them to the Capitol. That’s why they fled for the friendlier confines of Illinois and other blue states, where Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and other allies have vowed to shelter them from Texas’ demands to bring them back.
Abbott threatened to take another action against the absentee lawmakers: Ask Texas courts to remove them from office altogether. State law permits a Texas district court to determine whether a public official has “abandoned” his or her office, declaring it vacant — enabling the governor to set new elections to fill the empty seats.
The governor’s threat is rooted in a nonbinding legal opinion issued in 2021 by Attorney General Ken Paxton, amid the last attempt by Democrats to break quorum. Paxton, notably, took no position on whether breaking quorum is constitutional.
There’s more that’s worth reading. Suffice it to say that, if you run into a D Texas legislator, say, in Bethany, you might want to treat ’em to dinner. Recommended Reading: ‘Mr. Texas’ by Lawrence Wright. As Homer Simpson might say, “It’s funny because it’s true.”
What do you want to talk about?
I know people have to toe the party line….but alonna berry has been anything from the most inspiring candidate
I suspect Miller is going to win narrowly. Just my gut.
As a guy with a fairly large number of red and Blue Sussex social media friends the Red brigade is going hard negative on Berry with no similar attacks on Miller. Turnout is key, would love to know affiliation of the early vote. Miller by less than 100 is my guesss.
Driving around Lewes today I see Nikki signs all over the place, but can count on one hand the number of Berry signs I saw.
Berry is doing much better than expected. Early voting and absentee ballots retuned show 2989 Dems; 2522 Rep; and 1026 Oher. No Party votes have been breaking Democratic the last two cycles in eastern Sussex.
The machine vote (today’s vote) has been breaking Republican. However, as of 1pm today, 454 Dems have voted; 444 Rep; and 188 Other. At this rate, Berry will win by more than 500 votes.
The interest in the 20th is very high. Though state senate districts have twice as many voters as state house districts, more people voted in the 20th than either the 1st or 4th senate special election early this year.
Assuming your numbers are correct, that sounds about right.
Thanks for the update!
Those are turnout numbers and don’t necessarily translate into Berry votes, though.
While true, the early numbers have generally reflected the GOTV efforts of respective campaigns.
I think it’s a reasonable sign that Berry is the probable winner.
This post will self-destruct at 9:30–unless I’m right.
Everyone should get FEMA relief, but all persons receiving FEMA relief should be compelled to sign a document acknowledging anthropogenic climate change before the first check is allowed to clear.
According to the Department of Elections site, we won’t get any results until ALL the results have been tabulated.
Perhaps around 9:30.
However, if you’re a checker at a polling place, feel free to let us know what results you might have.
Unofficial results just posted. Alonna wins by 122 votes.
https://elections.delaware.gov/elections/special/20250805_rd20/XB2025_UnofficialResults.pdf?