Delaware Governor- Race of the Day

Delaware Governor 

 

97 Days Until Election Day

Status: Democrat Open

2020 Presidential Result: Blue State (East)

Outlook: Likely Democrat

It will not be until September 10th, when voters in Delaware officially pick their nominees for Governor. After that, it will be a fairly short period of time to see if Democrats can once again win the office they have won in every election since 1992. There is no reason to believe they will not, but sometimes voters are anxious for "change" and there seem to be some uncertainty regarding who might be nominated and in what political shape they will be in.

Two-term Governor John Carney is term-limited and he has endorsed the state's Lt. Governor, which is a separately, to replace him. The establishment choice for Democrats has clearly been Bethany Hall-Long, who was a nurse and a state legislator before being elected Lt. Governor in 2016. Some recent polls showed that she was in the best position to win her party's nomination in September. During the course of this campaign though, serious questions have been raised about her ethics. Her campaign operation had paid nearly $300, 000 to her husband and do not appear to have been reported properly. Considering the happiness that Democrats exhibited when Donald Trump was convicted on that sort of financial crime, this should be considered a big problem for them as well. A recently concluded state investigation has produced evidence of widespread wrongdoing, though neither she nor her husband will be referred for criminal prosecution. There are now multiple calls for Hall-Long to end her campaign. For now, she continues to have the official support of the state party.

The candidate standing to benefit if Hall-Long were to make a late exit or if she loses the primary is Matt Meyer, the County Executive of New Castle, which is easily the most populous of Delaware's three counties. As would be expected, he is now focusing Hall-Long's ethics problems and documented wrongdoing. Also in the race is Colin O'Mara a former State Natural Resources Secretary who is now President of the National Wildlife Federation. Polls had shown him running a distant third, and he appears to have been running as a more progressive option.

Republicans will also put up a candidate. In some recent Delaware Gubernatorial contests, they were not really even in the game. Four years ago, the party nominated a MAGA affiliated attorney who took 39 percent of the vote which has become about par for the course for any Republican statewide in Delaware. Julianne Murray has since lost a race for Attorney General and is now the Republican Party Chairman in the state, but she is taking a pass on another run for Governor. Instead, the party choice seems to be Mike Ramone, the State House Minority Leader, who would seemingly be a credible candidate. Two other Republican candidates, who have never held office, are also running in the primary. One of them seems to be portraying himself as a blue-collar champion and the other is a retired police officer. From what I can gather, none of the candidates have been talking much about Donald Trump. I noted that Ramone said that while he opposed the policies of Joe Biden, he was "proud" as a Delawarean that Biden became President. I cannot find anything in regards to polls on the Republican primary and I obviously do not live in the media market. I would assume that Ramone should win, but one can never be sure these days.

With 90, 97 days to go, this Ramone wants to be elected, instead of sedated.but any Republican has an uphill climb in Delaware. Still, I would expect this race to wind up more competitive than the open seats for U.S. Senate and U.S. House. If Bethany Hall-Long somehow wins the primary, then I think will actually turn into a contest. However, from my outsider perspective, I would tend to think her baggage will be too much to overcome and that the nomination will go to Matt Meyer. Republicans may try to bring up that he was once accused of belligerent behavior towards supporters of a primary opponent in a previous race, but that is probably easier to overlook than what voters now know about their current Lt. Governor.

Governor races predicted thus far:

1 D (1 Likely)

0 R

Total with predicted thus far:

21 Democrats (1 Likely, 20 Holdover)

19 Republicans (19 Holdover)