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Delaware DSA Releases Four Rounds of 2022 Endorsements! Vote Sept. 13th in the primary and Nov. 8th in the general election!

Round 1

  • State Rep. Eric Morrison (RD-27, Glasgow, incumbent, DSA member)-the first openly gay man in the history of the Delaware General Assembly, everyone’s favorite progressive firebrand faces a primary challenge from Capitol Police Chief Michael Hertzfeld and Republican John Marino. Being that having a massive number of former police officers in the state legislature is a huge obstacle to enacting any type of police accountability in Delaware, it is crucial to defend Rep. Morrison’s seat.
  • State Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton (RD-26, E. Newark, incumbent, DSA member)-the first Muslim in the history of Delaware legislature, as well as its youngest member, Rep. Wilson-Anton is best known for her fierce advocacy on environmental and housing issues. She too, faces a primary challenger (from Kelly Williams-Maresca, a self-described “fiscal conservative” who downplayed the January 6th coup attempt and compared it unfavorably to the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, in addition to likening COVID restrictions to the Holocaust) as well as Republican opponent Timothy Conrad. Despite Maresca’s abhorrent views, she is being funded by Rep. Wilson-Anton’s archnemesis, corporatist Democrat, and Reybold Industries owner Jerry Heisler as well as the former Rep. John Viola who was defeated by Rep. Wilson-Anton last primary cycle.
  • Rep. Larry Lambert-(RD-7, Claymont, incumbent)-Rep. Lambert is running unopposed this cycle, but we still want to re-endorse him and shout him out for his work on criminal justice reform, creating the Delaware EARNS program, and implementing environmental justice. Way to go, Rep. Lambert!
  • Sen. Marie Pinkney-(SD-13, Bear, incumbent)-Sen. Pinkney, the first queer Black person in the Delaware General Assembly, is also running unopposed, but she has earned DSA’s re-endorsement. From her tireless work on giving Delaware its first-of-its-kind in the nation family/medical leave to a majority of its workforce by the middle of the decade to pushing through the “momnibus bill” to reduce the disparities in treatment that Black women face in maternal healthcare to offering a broader variety of healthcare options to women up and down the state, Sen. Pinkney has been our most tireless voice for justice in the Delaware State Senate. Thank you for all your hard work, Sen. Pinkney!

Round 2

  • Wilmington City Councilwoman Shané Darby-Bey (RD-1, Wilmington, DSA member)-Councilwoman Darby-Bey from the 2nd Ward is taking on Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha, who has been in opposition to the tenants’ right to counsel despite his district having a very high proportion of renters. She is the founder of Black Mothers in Power, has been a vocal advocate for police reform, reproductive justice, and the Black Lives Matter movement, and is a young, dynamic voice for change. She also has experience working from the very bottom up in politics-before she was a city councilwoman, she worked with Co-Chair Jonathan while they attended Temple University together in the Residence Hall Association!
  • Kyra Hoffner (SD-14, Smyrna) is in a clown car primary to take over the retiring Sen. Bruce Ennis against 4 all-male opponents who range from a union man and Representative District Democratic Committee Chairman to a two-time Trump supporter. She has been a fierce advocate against gun violence and for fair re-districting in Delaware. We know that Kyra’s good government advocacy will do a lot of good in Dover, where the Delaware Way and corruption bog down progress whenever we try to make it.
  • Rep. Rae Moore (RD-8, Middletown), a progressive incumbent, is facing fierce opposition in the general election from a Republican who is being supported by Middletown’s Dixiecrat mayor and town councilmen. While her district should probably be safely Democratic, this Democratic opposition still puts her in unique danger. It is important to keep Rep. Moore in office as she is more quiet about it than our firebrand members in the legislature, she was both one of the driving forces behind the paid family and medical leave making it through the House even with its corporate Democratic leadership and a key hard-worker on much of the abortion justice progress we’ve seen in Delaware.
  • DeShanna Neal (RD-13, Elsmere) is challenging House Majority Whip Rep. Larry Mitchell, who has been a major obstacle to police accountability efforts as a former police officer himself, and who has opposed even the most basic human rights for homeless people. DeShanna is a nationally known activist on behalf of their transgender daughter Trinity and would be the first nonbinary state legislator as well as the first Buddhist legislator in Delaware history. Currently, they sit on the Red Clay Consolidated School District’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee where they helped shepherd their first of its kind in Delaware trans-inclusive policies as well as the RD-13 Democratic Party Committee. We know that she will be a fierce advocate for LGBT, BIPOC, and low-income Delawareans, and while she has a Republican opponent, winning the nomination would almost certainly be tantamount to election given the makeup of her district.
  • Kerri Evelyn Harris (RD-32, Dover) is running for Andria Bennett’s soon-to-be-vacated seat. The DNC National Committeewoman for Delaware, best known as Tom Carper’s DSA-endorsed 2018 primary challenger, is a disabled, biracial, Black, LGBT veteran (no, she was not cooked up in a DSA-ideal-candidate lab) in a race against Phil McGinnis, son of a Delaware politician and real estate agent, and two other more recent arrivals. Harris got enough national attention to bring DSA icon Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez here to the First State. She also will face the winner of the Republican primary in the fall, but winning her primary would likely amount to victory.
  • Susan Clifford, (RD-39, Seaford) is facing House Minority Leader Danny Short in the general election, who has not faced Democratic opposition since 2008. While it is an uphill battle, due to Seaford diversifying and the district being redrawn, Clifford, the former Sussex County DSA branch chair (the Sussex and Kent branches have since merged into our Southern Delaware DSA branch) has a real shot. She is a tireless volunteer and canvasser, was big in the Bernie 2020 campaign in Delaware, and will be a much needed voice in Dover.
  • Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown (RD-17, New Castle, unopposed). While Rep. Minor Brown is running unopposed, she has shown herself to be a strong progressive who has led the charge in maternal healthcare and reproductive justice, and continues to do so in her quest with Rep. Morrison to get Medicaid to fund abortions in Delaware. We are proud of you, Rep. Minor-Brown!

Round 3

  • Sophie Phillips (RD-18, Bear, DSA member) is running in a primary against union man Martin Willis. Phillips recently obtained her Master’s Degree in energy and environmental public policy from the University of Delaware, started a community garden in the Southbridge neighborhood of Wilmington, and was Miss Delaware 2021. She has a lifelong passion for environmentalism and climate justice, and would be the first Jew of color and the first Asian American to ever serve in Delaware’s General Assembly as well as its youngest member. This is a very winnable primary for one of our members, as her opponent has yet to campaign as of this post, and there is no Republican opposition.

Round 4

  • Becca Cotto (RD-6, North Wilmington, DSA member) is a tireless activist and educator from Brandywine Hundred who is now running to be a State Representative! She got her start in activism through the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign like so many of us did, and has since continued her work with Delaware United, the Delaware Working Families Party, and now Delaware DSA. She works as an an antiracism educator for a local nonprofit and serves on the RD-6 Democratic Party Committee. She was previously the vice chair of the New Castle County Democratic Party before running for office. We appreciate all of Becca’s hard work, as well as her refusal to take corporate money, and we know that she will be a fierce advocate for marginalized people in Dover when she gets down there!

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