Dan Cruce was Dead Meat Biking without the Musk-Rats love.
Two biggest underachievers of the night when it comes to results vs. $$’s spent: The Other Michael Smith, who finished a distant third behind runner-up Mike Miller, and Rob Bahnsen, who almost matched Krista Griffith dollar for dollar, but nowhere near vote for vote. Why, you ask? I am reminded of the story about the award-winning dog food commercial. Great commercial, but the dogs just wouldn’t eat the stuff.
Biggest cipher of the night: Ayanna Flowers-Khan. If commenter Middletonian is correct, the two perceived front-runners had fatal flaws. Could Rethugs retain this seat? And just what do we know about Flowers-Khan?
Two steps up, one step back? Kira Alejandro and Jason Hoover (apparently, not yet officially) win seats on County Council. But Dave Tackett defeats would-be briber Mike Kozikowski for the Recorder of Deeds spot. Special election dead ahead. Meaning, who will choose the nominee?
The national Working Families Party should keep their goddamn direct mail out of Delaware. It was the equivalent of those car crash election TV ads that clutter our screens at election time. They did more damage than good. People get to meet the candidates here. They know that there are (likely) no Hannibal Lecters among them.
There’s another new D House candidate who won his primary last night–Dave Redlawsk, who likely will replace Mara Gorman, who is running to succeed Dave Sokola.
I simply can’t overstate the potential for positive change in the House after last night’s results. Who will be the Speaker? Who will be in leadership? Even if Speaker Mimi retains the gavel, far from certain, she will have to appoint progressives to the powerful money committees as three of her preferred go-to’s–Lumpy Carson, Stephanie Bolden, and Deb Heffernan–are gone. Next time–Kim Williams?
I was poll-greeting at a site that both Shay Frisby and Rae Krantz have in common. Rae’s volunteers who campaigned with me yesterday are my kind of people. Hope we can all get together, perhaps at a joint fundraiser.
Shay Frisby is such an upgrade over Ray Seigfried that it’s hard to quantify. Her fellow Caucus members will soon realize it. Defeating an incumbent state senator who is awash in dark money is difficult. Defeating him by 800 votes speaks volumes. I have never been around such an effective grassroots campaign. Remember the name: Jamie Rubin. Best campaign manager ever. And a huge shout-out to Larry Lambert. People will underestimate his political acumen at their own risk.
What are your quick takes?
Come to think of it, Kim Williams didn’t have to lose to perhaps lose her perch on JFC. A speaker who is partial to, say, universal school lunches, could have something to say about that…
The terrible TWO, Cooke & Bolden got there just Deserts. Neither deserved to be Chairman of anything important. They both thought they were entitled to a seat in leg-hall without doing any meaningful work. Kissing the ring of the establishment only gets you so far.Now the state house can do something on robust oversight by breaking-up and putting creditable people on ADMINISTRATION, RULES, and ETHICS. THOSE COMMITTIES CONTROLED BY THE SAME PEOPLE IS NOT DEMOCRACY. IT ENTERPRISE CORRUPTION AND MUST END.
ALBERT JACKSON
I’m about to be on Khan-Flowers ass to make sure that seat is flipped. But Keonna was so close, too. More focus on Whitehall and we will get them next time.
Khan-Flowers and Money were both Kevin Hensely’s picks. Wonder who he propels forward now. No friends made amongst MOT Dems for AKF, and with Lowery as RD chair recovering from AKF’s nastiness, doubtful there is motivation to convene. Afterall, with AKF’s policy positions, would the seat truly be flipping?
This! Ayanna’s big sign (BTW, could she and Mr. Smith, and Mr. Bensing come get their signs from the school campus, thank you) was on a vacant Hensley property on Old State Road next to the school until the day of the election!
I will give Mrs. Lowery this, she is very real to wanting to change the District blue. And I believe she will honor that and attempt to work with Mrs. Khan-Flowers. She has been RD chair since Caneco stepped down, and I doubt she would abandon the mission due to a loss.
But frankly, I wouldn’t be shocked if the latter flipped their registration after (if) they are elected. She had so many builders all over that campaign report, and I still question if her “raffles” for those gift cards her campaign gave away at the Peach Festival was permissible. The unions lost big this election as they backed Mrs. Lowery and Mrs. Flowers, so the 9th probably will remain Republican despite who wins.
Why my comment posted twice, I apologize again. Mrs. Lowery and Mrs. Wall were backed by the unions. My error on the typo. And double post.
Poore spending 200k to like 20k to only win by a few points show how toast she really is one day. And also has zero bully skills anymore because your district almost kicked you out after 16 years. Go sit in the back of senate and scroll your phone with Walsh and maybe be a little more humble
You know what will make her more humble? If a revamped Grants-In-Aid Committee cuts her funding for Jobs For Delaware Graduates. It can happen, depending on the membership of the committee.
No matter how many retirees move in, Sussex County remains what it has always been: John Atkins won his district’s Republican primary.
Albeit just barely. Didn’t get to the 50% mark.
Respectfully disagree regarding the outcome of one specific race.
If you look at Adriana Bohm’s numbers you will see that we almost picked up another great candidate but for the numbers from District 12. And if you look at Shay’s you’ll see that the precincts she struggled most with lie within RD 12. However, Shay had more of the working class parts of 12 (where she did narrowly defeat Seigfried). In 12, Adriana had places like Bancroft Parkway and Wawaset in her senate district. It also did not hurt Shay that her opponent is nearly as inert as algae in a frozen pond. She won a hard-fought battle against corporate and incumbency power and ABSOLUTELY deserves her flowers, as does her entire team. But I want us to take the correct lesson from this.
What is said lesson? That District 12 is a neoliberal hellscape. That if you run the numbers from its precincts you will see that we would’ve had a Senator Frisby AND a Senator Bohm otherwise. Bahnsen’s cash output was nowhere near Griffith’s when one considers the vast PAC assistance she received. She also had every statewide elected but one campaigning hard for her. Everyone from the Palantir Leprechaun to Kathy Jokings to Da Gubna to KEG. They moved Heaven and Earth to keep their SB 21 darling safe, and a whole lotta cash was moved about, too. And don’t even get me started on the insane whisper campaign garbage she pulled. It’s hella pathetic that an 8 year incumbent needed to malign, bully, lie, call in a bazillion favors and launch unfounded whisper campaigns in order to prevail.
I’m glad we’re getting rid of Smith (R) in 28 if not sooner. He has the same stranglehold on 22 that Griffith does in 12. And the fact that both districts are teeming with affluent people who like to think America is post-racial and post-homophia truly does not help. These are the same people who smell their own farts when they pull the lever for Kamala but rarely, if ever, support anyone LOCAL who isn’t a straight, affluent, and white.