What Delaware General Assembly seats are up for election? General elections take shape

Delaware News Journal

This year’s election will likely be a transformational one in Delaware, with nearly all statewide races expected to be competitive along with some legislative runs, too.

The primary election is set for Sept. 10 in the First State. The general election will take place Nov. 5.

In 2022, Democrats strengthened their majority in the state General Assembly by flipping two seats previously held by Republicans in Sussex County. Due to redistricting changes, Republicans picked up a seat previously held by a Democrat. No Democratic incumbent legislator lost their race.

Democrats are expected to maintain their majority in both chambers in 2024, but by how much will be a different question.

DELAWARE ELECTIONS:Who's running for office? Republican challenger enters U.S. Senate race

Here’s an ongoing list of those who have announced their candidacy for this year’s General Assembly races:

4th Senate District

Delaware state Sen. Laura Sturgeon will seek reelection to the 4th Senate District seat, having since filed her candidacy on April 22.

Sturgeon, a Democrat and Woodbrook resident, was first elected to the Senate seat in 2018. She serves as chair of the Senate Education Committee and is a member of the banking, business & insurance, environment & energy and joint finance committees.

6th Senate District

State Sen. Russell Huxtable, a Lewes-area resident, will seek reelection this fall to the 6th Senate District seat.

He will face Republican challenger Kim Hoey Stevenson, also of Lewes, in the general election.

Huxtable was elected in 2022, becoming the first Democrat to represent Sussex County in the General Assembly's "upper chamber since 2015," according to Huxtable's General Assembly biography.

He serves as chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee and vice-chair of the body's Environment, Energy & Transportation Committee. Huxtable is also a member of the banking, business, insurance & technology, housing & land use, legislative oversight & sunset and veterans affairs committees.

According to Stevenson's campaign website, she would focus on "people over politics" by enhancing personal responsibility, expanding government efficiency, strengthening public safety, supporting children and seniors, and prioritizing equality and equal opportunity, according to her campaign website. She also pledged to focus on preserving farmlands and open space and expanding affordable housing options.

10th Senate District

Democratic state Sen. Stephanie Hansen will seek reelection to the 10th Senate District, having filed her candidacy April 22.

Hansen was first elected to the Senate seat in 2017 in a special election after the post was vacated by Bethany Hall-Long, who was elected lieutenant governor.

The Middletown resident serves as chair of the Senate Environment & Energy Committee and vice-chair of the Transportation Committee. She is also a member of the health & social services, elections & government affairs, rules & ethics, executive and sunset committees.

Hansen practiced environmental and administrative law in Delaware from 2001 to 2020, and has served as the chair and vice-chair of the Environmental Section of the Delaware Bar at various points in her career, according to her Senate biography.

18th Senate District

Republican candidate Robert "Bob" Reed filed his candidacy for the 18th Senate District on April 16.

The Greenwood resident did not provide a campaign website in his candidacy filing.

The seat is held by Republican Sen. David L. Wilson, who has served the 18th District since 2018. He previously served in the Delaware House of Representatives from 2008 to 2018. Wilson also is a member of the agriculture, capital improvement, corrections & public safety, health & social services and veterans affairs committees.

It is unclear whether Wilson is seeking reelection. He has not filed his candidacy for the office as of April 25.

21st Senate District

Republican incumbent Sen. Bryant Richardson, who has served in the 21st Senate District seat since 2015, is seeking reelection to the post.

The Seaford resident is a member of the Senate capital improvement, elections & government affairs, judiciary, labor, legislative oversight and sunset and veterans affairs committees.

Richardson describes himself as "pro-life" and believes in "strong family core values." Among his priorities is pushing legislation that would prevent transgender women from playing on sports teams corresponding to the gender with which they identify.

The senator also highlighted other bills he's worked on, including the "Bible Literacy Act," a course on the Constitution, home school parental rights act and the creation of an Office of Legislative Ethics, among others, according to his campaign website.

2nd Representative District

Current House Rep. Stephanie Bolden will face Democratic challenger James Taylor in a primary for the 2nd District in September. Both democrats filed for candidacy in early April.

Bolden was elected to the General Assembly seat in 2010, having previously served on Wilmington City Council for five terms. She also was the first woman elected as president pro tempore.

Bolden serves as chair of the House Committee on Gaming & Parimutuels, as well as sitting on the labor, appropriations, joint finance and veterans affairs committees.

Taylor pledges to bring new "energy, policy perspective, and creativity" to move the district forward.

According to his campaign website, Taylor seeks to focus on access to quality preventative health care and protect residents from environmental inequities; ensure access to housing and food along with educational and job training resources; and uniting communities to address "societal issues that leave us vulnerable to disinformation and division."

3rd Representative District

Wilmington resident Josue O. Ortega has filed to run for the Delaware House of Representatives' 3rd District, which could set up the seat for a Democratic Primary should Branden Fletcher Dominguez, an affordable housing advocate, file his candidacy.

While Ortega filed to run for the House seat in February, Fletcher Dominguez, as of April 25, had yet to file his candidacy. Fletcher Dominguez expressed intentions to run for the Wilmington seat last year.

The seat is held by Rep. Sherry Dorsey Walker, a Democrat, who is running for lieutenant governor. She was the first person of color to represent this district.

Fletcher Dominguez, if elected, would be the youngest lawmaker at age 24 and one of the few Gen Zers in the Delaware House. He would also be the first Afro-Latino Delawarean elected to the General Assembly.

6th Representative District

Democratic incumbent state Rep. Debra Heffernan is seeking reelection to the 6th Representative District, a seat she has held since 2010.

She filed her candidacy for office in December 2023.

Heffernan is the former president of the Brandywine School Board and an environmental toxicologist with more than 30 years of experience, according to her House of Representatives biography.

She is a co-chair of the House Capital Infrastructure Committee and chair of the Natural Resources & Energy Committee. She also serves as a member of the agriculture, health & human development and veterans affairs committees.

9th Representative District

Odessa resident Terrell A. Williams is seeking to challenge Republican incumbent state Rep. Kevin Hensley for the Delaware House of Representatives' 9th District seat.

Williams, who filed for candidacy at the beginning of April, said his platform centers on "diversity, equity and inclusion for all Delawareans." He wants to focus on education, crime and safety, mental health and overall health care, infrastructure and development, and clean energy and climate change if elected, according to his campaign website.

It is unclear whether Hensley intended to seek reelection. He has not filed his candidacy for office as of April 24.

10th Representative District

Democrat Melanie Ross Levin has filed to run for the Delaware House of Representatives' 10th District seat, which is currently held by Democratic Rep. Sean Matthews.

Matthews, who has served in the seat since 2014, has yet to file his candidacy for office as of April 24.

He is the chair of the House Transportation Committee. He is also a member of the agriculture, economic development/banking/insurance & commerce, gaming & parimutuels, labor and technology & telecommunications committees.

Ross Levin is the director of the Delaware Office of Women's Advancement and Advocacy, and most recently worked to pass Paid Family and Medical Leave. She also pointed to her efforts to increase the minimum wage, ban child marriage and expand Medicaid coverage to pregnant women, among others, according to her campaign website.

11th Representative District

Republican incumbent state Rep. Jeffrey Spiegelman filed his candidacy for reelection in late March.

Spiegelman, of Clayton, has held the Delaware House of Representatives 11th District seat since 2012. He is a member of the sunset, economic development/banking/insurance & commerce, housing, judiciary, revenue & finance and veterans affairs committees.

He also is the co-chair of the Delaware Legislative Sportsmen's Caucus, a new ad-hoc committee that promotes and protects sportsmen's heritage in Delaware.

Spiegelman highlighted his efforts to pass a bill that would permit farm wineries to make and sell mead and cider and his continued fight to "allow parents to opt out their children" from taking standardized tests, the latter known as House Bill 34, according to his campaign website.

13th Representative District

Current House Rep. DeShanna Neal, who became the first nonbinary person elected to office in Delaware after they defeated House Majority Whip John “Larry” Mitchell in a primary challenge in 2022, is up for reelection this year.

Neal has filed their candidacy for office, and Republican candidate Danny Rappa is looking to challenge the incumbent in the general election this fall. Rappa filed his candidacy April 23.

A Wilmington resident, Mike Spencer, had looked to challenge Neal on the Democratic line, but withdrew his candidacy on April 5, according to the elections department's candidate list April 25.

Neal and their oldest child, Trinity, became public figures back in 2016 after news about their battle with Medicaid to cover Trinity’s gender affirming care, got around. They are responsible for the creation of Nemours pediatric gender clinic, New Castle County’s LGBTQ Youth Pride Day celebrated on Sept. 30 and Delaware’s first ever Drag Queen Story Hour.

14th Representative District

Former State Auditor Kathy McGuiness has joined the race for the 14th District for the Delaware House of Representatives, a seat held by Pete Schwartzkopf for the last two decades.

McGuiness, who filed her candidacy for the office on April 15, joins two other Democrats vying for the post.

Marty Rendon, commissioner of the Delaware Human and Civil Rights Commission, and Claire Snyder-Hall, the former executive director of Common Cause Delaware, also filed to run for the seat.

Last June, Schwartzkopf announced that he was stepping down as House speaker, resulting in then-House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst becoming the first woman to serve in the role.

Schwartzkopf said he planned to serve out the rest of his term, in which he represents Rehoboth, Lewes and Dewey Beach. It’s unclear if he will endorse anyone in the 2024 election.

Rendon, a Democrat, worked in Washington, D.C., and Capitol Hill for decades, specifically on the House Rules Committee, according to his campaign announcement. He said his priorities are on traffic congestion, environmental issues and public transportation.

Snyder-Hall stepped down from Common Cause, where she worked from 2021 to January 2024, to pursue elected office. Common Cause is a nonpartisan organization that works to protect and strengthen democracy, efforts that Snyder-Hall pointed to serving her well in the House seat.

Snyder-Hall unsuccessfully ran for Delaware Senate in 2014 against Ernie Lopez.

She taught political science and other graduate programs at George Mason University before moving to Rehoboth Beach in 2011.

15th Representative District

Delaware House Speaker Valerie Longhurst is being challenged by Democrat Kamela Smith for the 15th District seat this election year.

Longhurst, who took over as House speaker last year after Schwartzkopf stepped down, is running for reelection to the district seat she’s held since 2005. She was elected to House Majority Whip in 2008, serving for four years. Then, after being reelected in 2012, she was elected by the Democratic Caucus as the House Majority Leader.

Longhurst is the chair of the House Administration, Ethics and Rules committees.

Smith, who serves as ChristianaCare’s director of community education and engagement, said her focus is ensuring that voices of the community are amplified. She said she’s not politically connected, and is running to provide a voice for the marginalized.

“I am simply just someone who sees the many challenges facing our community and don’t feel like they are getting addressed in the urgent matter that they should,” Smith said on her campaign website. “I am a person motivated by correcting injustice from a down up direct-line approach, that only a regular person can do, believing that we need more regular people in our legislature.”

Smith is also a fellow with the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League, a member of the Kalmar Nyckel Board of Trustees, and the Social Action Co-Chair for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

16th Representative District

Democratic incumbent state Rep. Franklin D. Cooke Jr. is seeking reelection to the state House of Representatives 16th District seat.

Cooke, a Wilmington resident, was elected to the seat in 2018.

He serves as chair of the House Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee. He also is a member of the corrections, gaming & parimutuels, housing & community affairs, judiciary, labor and veterans affairs committees, according to his representative biography.

17th Representative District

Democratic incumbent state Rep. Melissa "Mimi" Minor-Brown is seeking reelection to the state House of Representatives 17th District seat.

Minor-Brown, a New Castle resident, has represented the district since 2018. She is chair of the House Administration, Ethics and Rules committees, and also is a member of the health & human development, legislative council and veterans affairs committees, according to Minor-Brown's legislative biography.

20th Representative District

Democratic incumbent state Rep. Stell Parker Selby will face Republican challenger Nikki Miller in the general election for the Delaware House of Representatives 20th District seat.

Parker Selby was elected to the seat in 2022 after flipping a historically Republican-held seat. She sits on the agriculture, education, health & human development, housing, sunset and transportation committees, according to her legislative biography.

Miller, a former principal of Cape Henlopen High School who filed her candidacy in February, said she is dedicated to the concerns and needs of all those in the Cape Region and is a trusted advocate for children and families.

"I am a mom and lifelong educator who cares strongly about the health and wellness of all families, especially our children and seniors. If elected, I will serve humbly as a responsible and responsive representative putting the needs of the Cape Region first," she said in a statement on her candidate Facebook page.

21st Representative District

Two candidates are looking to unseat House Minority Leader Mike Ramone, who represents the 21st District.

Michael Smith, a former legislative aide and substitute teacher, plans to run as a Democrat to flip the seat covering the Pike Creek area. Frank Burns, who has run against Ramone unsuccessfully in the past, will once again attempt to unseat the incumbent during this year’s election.

Ramone, who has been in office since 2008, narrowly won his reelection in 2022. He has not filed his candidacy for office as of April 25, according to the Department of Elections latest candidates list.

Smith, according to his campaign announcement, founded an environmental nonprofit that looks to promote clean energy infrastructure by supplying New Castle County residents with electric leaf blowers and LED light bulbs, among other things. He said he plans to focus his campaign on education, inflation and environmental pollution.

(Don’t confuse him with state Rep. Mike Smith, a Republican, who also represents Pike Creek Valley in a different district.)

Burns, a climate activist and biotech entrepreneur, lost the 2022 election by a margin of 41 votes. In his campaign announcement, Burns slammed Ramone for “holding the needed bond bill hostage” in order to pass a bill that would allow corporations and LLCs to vote in municipal elections in Seaford.

Burns called it the “latest example of how out of sync his actions as a legislator are with the values and needs of 21^st district residents.”

22nd Representative District (Pike Creek Valley)

A Democrat is looking to flip the Pike Creek Valley seat held by Rep. Mike Smith for the 22nd Representative District.

Monica Beard, who filed for candidacy in January, is a policy coordinator for the Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Beard has been involved in crafting policy that helps domestic violence survivors in Legislative Hall, according to her website, and sits on the board of the First State Abortion Fund. The issues she plans to focus on during her campaign include gun control, improving services for survivors of domestic and child abuse and subsidizing childcare for middle and working-class families.

Since entering office in 2018, Smith has easily won his reelection campaigns. As of April 24, Smith had yet to file for candidacy for the office.

23rd Representative District

Democratic incumbent state Rep. Paul Baumbach is seeking reelection to the Delaware House of Representatives 23rd District seat.

Baumbach, a Newark resident, was first elected to the seat in 2012.

He is chair of the Revenue & Finance Committee, and a member of the economic development/banking/insurance & commerce, health & human development, natural resources & energy, technology & telecommunications and transportation committees, according to his legislative biography.

24th Representative District

Democratic incumbent state Rep. Ed Osienski is seeking reelection this fall to the Delaware House of Representatives 24th District seat.

Osienski, who was first elected to the seat in 2010, is chair of the House Labor Committee and vice-chair of both the Public Safety & Homeland Security and Transportation committees. He also is a member of the capital improvement, capital infrastructure and education committees, according to his legislative biography.

Osienski said he'd continue to work to improve the state's economy through job creation and workforce training as well as expand early education and properly fund high and special needs students, among other initiatives, according to his campaign website.

25th Representative District

Democratic incumbent state Rep. Cyndie Romer is seeking reelection to the Delaware House of Representatives 25th District seat.

Romer, a Newark resident, was first elected in 2022. She serves as chair of the House Technology & Telecommunications Committee and vice-chair of the House Judiciary Committee. Romer also is a member of the corrections, education and health & human development committees, according to her legislative biography.

According to Romer's campaign website, she is focusing her campaign on reproductive freedom, public education investment, gun safety, expanded opportunities in higher education, criminal justice reform, LGBTQUIA+ rights, and living wages and worker protections, among others.

27th Representative District

Bear resident Margie López Waite is seeking election to the Delaware House of Representatives 27th District seat as a democrat, potentially setting up a primary election should incumbent state Rep. Eric Morrison seek reelection.

López Waite filed for candidacy on April 16. She is one of the founders of Las Américas ASPIRA Academy and was key to opening the first "dual-language charter school" in Delaware, according to López Waite's biography on Vision Coalition of Delaware. The coalition is a "public-private partnership" bringing stakeholders together to improve Delaware's public education.

Morrison had yet to file for candidacy as of April 25. He has served in the role since 2020, and is the vice-chair of the House Health & Human Development Committee. He also is a member of the corrections, education, labor and veterans affairs committees, according to his legislative biography.

28th Representative District

Longtime Democratic incumbent William J. Carson Jr. is seeking reelection to the Delaware House of Representatives 28th District seat.

The Smyrna resident has held the position since 2007.

Carson is the chair of the House Agriculture Committee and vice-chair of the House Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce and Veterans Affairs committees. He also sits on the housing and natural resources & energy committees, according to his legislative biography.

29th Representative District

Democratic House Rep. Bill Bush, who has represented the 29th District since 2018, will likely face Democratic challenger Monica Shockley Porter in the state's primary election in September.

Porter filed for candidacy on April 22 and their status is listed as provisional on the state Department of Elections website's list of primary election candidates.

Dover resident Anthony Egipciaco Jr. filed to run for the house district seat on the Republican ballot at the beginning of the year. He said he would push for education reform, parental rights, no state mandates, public safety, property rights and farmland preservation, according to his campaign website.

Bush serves as chair of the House Committee on Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce and vice-chair of the agriculture committee. He also is a member of the capital improvement, capital infrastructure, gaming & parimutuels, public safety & homeland security and veterans affairs committees.

32nd Representative District

Democratic incumbent state Rep. Kerri Evelyn Harris is seeking reelection to the Delaware House of Representatives 32nd District Seat.

Evelyn Harris currently serves as the House Majority Whip having been elected to the district seat in 2022. She is the first openly LGBTQ member to serve in leadership in either chamber.

The Dover resident is chair of the House Health & Human Development Committee and vice-chair of the House Ethics, Rules and Administration committees. She also serves on the agriculture, housing, legislative council, natural resources & energy, transportation and veterans affairs committees, according to Evelyn Harris' legislative biography.

33rd Representative District

Republican incumbent state Rep. Charles S. Postles Jr. is seeking reelection to the Delaware House of Representatives 33rd District seat.

Postles, a Milford resident, filed his candidacy on April 22 for the seat he has held the seat since 2016. He is a member of the agriculture, appropriations, health & human development, joint finance, natural resources & energy and veterans affairs committees, according to his legislative biography.

34th Representative District

A Wyoming Democrat is looking to unseat Republican incumbent state Rep. Lyndon Yearick in Delaware's general election this fall.

Tracey Miller filed for candidacy of the Delaware House of Representatives 34th District seat on Jan. 16. Yearick filed his candidacy for office just shy of a month later, according to state elections candidate lists.

Yearick has held the district seat since 2014 and is the current House Minority Whip. He also is a member of the administration, rules, ethics and legislative council committees, according to his legislative biography.

36th Representative District

Ellendale resident Patrick Smith is seeking election to the Delaware House of Representatives 36th District seat.

Republican incumbent state Rep. Brian Shupe, a Milford resident, has held the district seat since 2018. Shupe is a member of the education, health & human development, housing & community affairs, judiciary and natural resources & energy committees, according to his legislative biography.

It is unclear if Shupe intends to seek reelection. While Smith filed for candidacy in March, as of April 25 nothing had been filed by Shupe.

41st Representative District

Millsboro resident Tom Brett is seeking to flip the Delaware House of Representatives 41st District seat with a run on the Democratic line.

Incumbent state Rep. Richard Collins, a Republican, has served in the seat since 2014, but it is unclear whether he is seeking reelection. Collins had yet to file for candidacy as of April 25.

Brett, who filed mid-March, said, if elected, his priorities would focus on responsible growth, women and families, quality education, and clean energy and jobs, according to his campaign website.

This story is updated regularly as candidates drop in and out of races. If you believe you have been missed, contact Amanda Fries at afries@delawareonline.com.