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.
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Here’s an ongoing list of those who have announced their candidacy for this year’s General Assembly races:
2nd Representative District (Wilmington)
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 first 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 chairwoman 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)
Branden Fletcher Dominguez, an affordable housing advocate, is running to represent Wilmington in the Delaware House of Representatives' 3rd District.
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.
The Democrat formerly worked as a community engagement coordinator for West Side Grows Together, working on neighborhood revitalization projects, as well as tenant advocate for the Delaware Community Legal Aid Society. He is a fellow for the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League, according to his LinkedIn page.
13th Representative District (Elsmere)
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 Wilmington resident Mike Spencer is looking to challenge them on the Democratic line. Spencer does not appear to have a campaign website or social media page.
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 (Dewey, Rehoboth, Lewes Beach)
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.
RELATED:Former State Auditor Kathy McGuiness officially files to run for Rehoboth-area House seat
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 (Bear, Delaware City, St. Georges)
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.
21st Representative District (Pike Creek)
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 1, 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 21st district residents.”
22nd Representative District (Pike Creek Valley)
Although no one has officially filed their candidacy for the 22nd Representative District, a Democrat is looking to flip the Pike Creek Valley seat held by Rep. Mike Smith.
Monica Beard 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 1, Smith had yet to file for candidacy for the office.
29th Representative District (Dover)
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.
