Good afternoon all,
In coming days, pundits in Delaware and elsewhere will be looking at Tuesday night’s election results.
While Republicans tightened their grip on the U.S. Senate, the story in the House was different as women helped build on a Democratic majority.
In Delaware, women will soon hold all statewide elected offices other than the governor
Female candidates also contributed to Democratic gains in the State Senate and House, with longtime-incumbents Sen. Greg Lavelle and Rep. Deborah Hudson going down to defeat.
In a New Castle County Council race, Dee Durham ousted long-time Republican incumbent Bob Weiner. Durham made the case that Weiner, who had long pursued a controlled development agenda, was not doing enough to preserve open space.
Women were motivated in this election cycle and this is especially true in Delaware. Donald Trump might have roused the troops in other states, but in Delaware the opposite was true.
What this means for the business community remains to be seen. On the national scene, a divided House and Senate is generally good for financial markets and there is at least a faint hope that we could see an infrastructure bill.
In Delaware, Gov. John Carney’s efforts to get a grip on dealing with state’s structural budget deficit suffered a setback.
Republican budget reform ally and State Treasurer Kent Simpler was sent packing. Moreover, an alarmingly high number of incumbents ran unopposed and will be in no mood to break out of the mold.
But as Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long observed the other night- if you want to talk about getting something done, a man is the best choice. But when it comes to doing the work, the best option is a woman.
In the next session, Carney needs to turn to women legislators and office-holders to help develop a long-term plan while the state is not facing economic headwinds that are destined to come sooner rather than later.
Finally, a glitch in sending out the newsletter led to a late edition on Tuesday night.
It is worth noting that yesterday’s column on the results of the mock election at Delaware schools proved to be shockingly accurate in predicting Tuesday night’s outcome. We don’t need any other stinkin’ polls.
Have a great day. Our newsletter returns tomorrow. – Doug and Sharon Rainey
