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Posted: Nov. 16, 2007
LEGISLATIVE WATCH LIST
With a year to go before the 2008 election, the
Delaware General Assembly is already a political
battleground.
In the House of Representatives, the Democrats are
making a concerted drive to win control of the House of
Representatives for the first time since 1982. The
Republicans currently hold a 22-18 majority with one
vacancy, to be decided Dec. 8 in a special election that
favors the Democrats to retain the seat.
The Democrats are taking the offense on more than a
half-dozen Republican red seats, often with candidates
seasoned in 2006. They are on defense for only two
Democratic blue seats.
In the Senate, the Democrats are expected to contest
three Republican seats as they try to pad their 13-8
majority -- insurance against the eventual retirements
of three Democratic senators in Sussex County, the one
reliably Republican base in the state.
It is early. The Legislative Watch List will grow and
shrink, depending on retirements, recruitment, primary
challenges, candidates' performance and all the other
unpredictable factors that make politics such a circus.
Here it is for now.
|
Office |
Incumbent |
Likely Challenger |
Registration |
Rundown |
|
10th Senate |
Steve Amick, R-Newark |
|
Voters: 30,594
Dem:
43%
Rep:
32%
Other: 25% |
Democrats always are talking about targeting
Amick, but this could be the year |
|
16th Senate |
Colin Bonini, R-Dover |
Harold Stafford |
Voters: 27,637
Dem:
38%
Rep:
37%
Other: 25% |
Bonini is making noises about running for lt gov,
so Democrats are making noises about going for
the seat with Stafford, a labor ex-secretary |
|
17th Senate |
John Still, R-Dover |
Brian Bushweller |
Voters: 26,959
Dem:
44%
Rep:
31%
Other: 25% |
Out as Senate minority leader, no longer in the
mix for gov, Still has been waning since
Bushweller came within 541 votes of toppling him
in '04 |
|
7th Rep
|
Bryon Short, D-Brandywine
Hundred |
Jim Bowers |
Voters: 14,630
Dem: 37%
Rep: 40%
Other: 23%
|
Short beat Bowers in a
special election by 227 votes -- worth another
shot for Bowers with registration on his side
|
|
9th Rep
|
Dick Cathcart, R-Middletown |
Rebecca Walker |
Voters: 17,209
Dem: 41%
Rep: 35%
Other: 24% |
As the new majority leader,
Cathcart brings extra clout to the same match-up
he won in ‘06 |
|
10th Rep |
Bob Valihura, R-Brandywine Hundred |
|
Voters: 15,620
Dem: 40%
Rep: 36%
Other: 24% |
The registration recently
flipped the Democrats' way, and they want the
seat, too |
|
18th Rep |
Terry Spence, R-Stratford |
Michael Barbieri |
Voters: 12,062
Dem: 50%
Rep: 26%
Other: 24% |
Spence, the speaker, used
labor support to turn back Barbieri in ’06.
Unless labor helps again, Spence is threatened |
|
24th Rep |
Bill Oberle
R-Beecher’s Lot |
|
Voters: 11,687
Dem: 48%
Rep: 26%
Other: 26% |
As a labor favorite and
Joint Finance co-chair, Oberle keeps the seat
safely Republican unless he retires |
|
27th Rep |
Vince Lofink, R-Caravel
Farms |
Earl Jaques |
Voters: 13,477
Dem: 43%
Rep: 32%
Other: 25%
|
There but for 128 votes,
Jaques would have won in ’06 and he is coming
back |
|
28th Rep |
Bruce Ennis, D-Smyrna,
elected Nov. 3 to the Senate |
|
Voters: 12,700
Dem: 47%
Rep: 28%
Other: 25% |
Democrat Bill Carson and
Republican Christine Malec square off Dec. 8 in
a special election. Rematch in '08? |
|
29th Rep |
Pam Thornburg, R-Dover |
Trey Paradee |
Voters: 14,871
Dem: 40%
Rep: 35%
Other: 25% |
Thornburg was unopposed in
’06, but Kent Democrats are feeling
frisky. Paradee, an investment broker, is from a
Democratic family |
|
30th Rep |
Nancy Wagner, R-Dover |
Darryl Scott |
Voters: 11,897
Dem: 45%
Rep: 31%
Other: 24% |
This is Wagner’s first
election since slipping onto the Del State
payroll. Scott is on the Capital school board |
|
32nd Rep |
Donna Stone, R-Dover |
Brad Bennett |
Voters: 10,903
Dem: 43%
Rep: 31%
Other: 26% |
Unopposed in ’06, Stone
draws a challenge from Bennett for the seat his
dad once had |
|
33rd Rep |
Bob Walls, D-Milford |
|
Voters: 12,467
Dem: 38%
Rep: 36%
Other: 26% |
The Democrats took this
seat in ’06, and the Republicans want it back |
|
41st Rep |
Greg Hastings, R-Millsboro |
|
Voters: 14,513
Dem: 42%
Rep: 38%
Other: 20% |
Hastings won a special
election to keep the seat Republican. John
Atkins gets off probation in December and could
run, but as a Republican or a Democrat? |
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