First, here from the Delaware Department of Elections is the complete slate of primary races.
US Senate Democratic Primary: Once the nascent and short-lived campaign of Chris Beardsley crashed and burned, no credible D stepped forward to challenge the eminently-beatable Chris Coons–until one day before the primary deadline. At which point, three, count ’em, three challengers filed. None are serious candidates, and none have a chance to win. Even if all three were serious candidates, the fact that there are three of them would have rendered them unelectable. For completists, the three ‘challengers’ are Jeff Appelhans, E. No-Trump Hansen, and Mary Louve.
Let’s stop right there. ‘E. No-Trump Hansen’ is actually Eric Hansen. He ran as a Republican against Lisa Blunt Rochester in 2024, and got 39.5% of the vote to Lisa’s 56.6%, with the rest going to perennial candidate Mike Katz. He has legally changed his name to E. No-Trump Hansen apparently because he thinks Democratic voters are idiots. (Well, we did elect Coons…)
Bottom line–had anybody seriously wished to challenge Coons, they would not have waited until July 14 to file, especially since none of them had any visibility prior to filing.
US Senate Republican Primary: Retread vs. Newcomer. Dr. Michael Katz vs. John Shulli. Did I say retread? Check out Katz’ political history:
He was elected as a Democrat to the State Senate in 2008, defeating Dee Durham in the primary and John Clatworthy in the General. He lost to Greg Lavelle in 2012.
Katz briefly ran for President as a Democrat starting in 2019. Went nowhere, he withdrew.
Katz resurfaced as the IPOD (Independent Party Of Delaware) candidate for US Senate in 2024, and got about 4% of the vote.
He now identifies as a Republican. Hey, don’t know why, just reporting it.
His opponent, John Shulli, is your garden-variety Trumper. I figure he’s winning this primary.
US Representative Republican Primary. Depressing News–Looks like Lee ‘Go Murph, Go’ Murphy has dropped out of this. Not a problem as comedic potential abounds amongst the remaining three challengers. Dr. Joseph Arminio had filed for the 2024 R Congressional nomination to face Sarah McBride, but withdrew before the primary. His positions are kinda all over the place:
Arminio said establishing a national infrastructure bank would tame inflation and benefit manufacturing. He said he opposes wars and medical tyranny, and he wants to slash federal spending, end public funding of abortion and support the revival of labor unions.
“I am for guns, free speech and free enterprise,” he said in a press statement. “Although I am well aware of the splendid contribution that immigrants have made – and continue to make – to our country, I want an end to open borders. I am against trade agreements – fast track or otherwise – that American workers are doomed to pay for with their jobs.”
Earl Cooper faced off against Sarah McBride in 2024 in the Democratic Primary, and got 16.2% of the vote. In 2024, he was recognized by the Small Business Administration as the Delaware Small Business Champion Of The Year. He’s running as an R this year. Here’s his website. I, uh, don’t think he’s gonna do much better as an R.
Finally, we have John J. Whalen, who lost to McBride in 2024. Yep, he’s an ex-state cop who is ex-cop Sen. Dave Lawson’s doppelganger:
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I’ll leave it to you to determine who is who.
He’s obsessed with illegal immigration, sort-of a one-trick pony. Whalen is likely to win the primary and again get skunked in the General.
New Castle County Recorder Of Deeds Democratic Primary. Incumbent Mike Kozikowski is tanned and well-rested. Well-rested b/c the Recorder of Deeds hardly does anything. Staff does all the work. He ‘supervises’ and goes to conferences with other Recorders of Deeds. A great job that in no way should be an elective position. He is being challenged by NCC Councilman Dave Tackett, presumably because he’s grown tired of working so hard. If he’s been working hard.
Back soon with more what-passes-for-analysis.
I have a dim memory of Katz being normal but he has really lost it. He social media is all AI slop listing all his MAGA virtues and how much he hates socialism.
He wrote a slobbering salute to the retiring Dave Lawson.
Maybe he breathed in too much anesthesia during his doctor days? Or, is he still a doctor?
As a community, I think we need to do a better job of nipping unserious candidates like Beardsley in the bud. I’m sure he collected donations from some gullible voters early on, but it was clear at the outset that he didn’t have any clear path forward. Vanity campaigns for name recognition are disqualifying for future runs in my book.
Still waiting to see if Will Imbrie Moore is going to show up. You wouldn’t know there is a contested primary in Kim,s district. Hes been MIA for the past two months.
It didn’t take long for supporters to realize that the Beardsley campaign was a flop.
I, um, think it’s important that we as a community don’t take some anonymous person on the internet’s word for what’s going on in a given campaign.
Concern trolling definitely increases exponentially in an election year.
Concern mass-emailing also increases exponentially in an election year. (See Griffith, Krista.) Three in one week 7 weeks before a House district primary may break the state record.