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Posted: July 17, 2012
LONGEVITY GETS SHORTER
By Celia Cohen
Grapevine Political Writer
Before the last election or two, Delaware had a
fairly robust Thirty Years Club, people in elected
office for longer than three decades.
Politics has taken its toll, though, as it will.
Mike Castle, the Republican congressman and governor,
was ousted by the Tea Party in 2010 in that shocker of a
Senate primary. The Tea Party also got Nancy Cook, the
Democratic legislator who was a state senator longer
than anybody else.
Now Bob Gilligan, the Democratic speaker who spent 40
years in the state House of Representatives, is
retiring, and so is Biff Lee, the senior member on the
Republican side of the aisle after a mere 22 years in
the chamber.
It means the General Assembly will convene in January
without a state representative even in a Twenty Years
Club.
Across Legislative Hall, the Senate Republicans are
also losing their most-tenured member with the
retirement of Liane Sorenson, the minority whip who
became a state senator in 1994 after two years as a
state representative.
It leaves Colin Bonini, elected in 1994, as the
Senate's senior Republican at the politically youthful
age of 47 years old.
"The most senior Republican is still the youngest
state senator," Bonini quipped.
| Officeholder |
Party |
Years |
Offices |
Notable |
| Joe Biden |
D |
42 |
NCC councilman, senator, vice president |
The
winner and still champion, Biden holds the state
record for the Senate with six terms and
resigned his seventh to become the veep |
| Tom Carper |
D |
36 |
treasurer, congressman, governor, senator |
Carper is up for his 13th statewide win,
which would be the longest streak in state
history |
| Mike Castle |
R |
40 |
legislator, lt governor, governor,
congressman |
Castle set the state record for congressman
with nine terms |
| Bob Gilligan |
D |
40 |
state representative |
Nobody was ever in the legislature longer
than Gilligan, the speaker who is retiring |
| Nancy Cook |
D |
36 |
state senator |
Actually, 36 years and nine months made Cook
the longest serving state senator, from a
special election in February 1974 until her
defeat in 2010 |
| Harris McDowell III |
D |
36 |
state senator |
As long as McDowell gets re-elected, he
overtakes Cook |
| Debbie Hudson |
R |
18 |
state representative |
Hudson, who is running unopposed, is in line
to be the senior House Republican |
| Colin Bonini |
R |
18 |
state senator |
Bonini, another unopposed candidate, is set
to be the senior Senate Republican |
| Helene Keeley |
D |
16 |
state representative |
Keeley, also running unopposed, is on track
to be the senior House Democrat |
Current officeholders in bold
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