The News Journal (Wilmington, DE)
November 3, 2004
Democrats pick up three seats, but sharp divisions still remain
BYLINE: Mike Chalmers
The General Assembly remains heavily divided after Tues day's election, despite the Democratic Party's capture of three more seats.
Democrats took two open House of Representative seats and defeated incumbent Republican Bruce Reynolds to bring the balance to 26 Republicans and 15 Democrats, a slightly narrower margin than the parties have had for the past two years. In the Senate, the seats were unchanged, with 13 Democrats and eight Republicans.
The results mean the parties will have to continue working together to solve the state's thorniest issues, said Samuel B. Hoff, political science professor at Delaware State University. Delaware is one of only 11 states with split control of its Legislature, he said.
"Delaware has been lucky," Hoff said. "We haven't seen too many issues come into a fractious or stalemate situation."
As news of the day's victories and losses sunk in, party officials reflected on the slightly different make up of the General Assembly.
For most of the evening, it appeared the Democrats had only gained two seats. But late results in the 15th House District showed that Democrat Valerie Longhurst had overtaken incumbent Republican Bruce C. Reynolds by just 28 votes.
Speaking before the Democrats captured their third seat, House Speaker Terry Spence, R-Stratford, told supporters Tuesday night he was unfazed by the loss of two seats.
"We'll make sure the two that won those seats are never heard of," Spence said. "We can do that. We're in the majority."
In the House, 19 of the 41 seats went unopposed in Tuesday's election. Among the Senate's 21 seats, 10 were up for election but only five were contested.
Incumbents dominated in both houses, winning all contested races except Reynolds' seat. With Longhurst's victory, there will be five newcomers in the new General Assembly.
The number of minority legislators increased by one when Democrat James Johnson won the 16th District House race. He will join two other black representatives and one black senator.
One of the seats that switched parties was the 6th District in the House, which covers the area north of Wilmington. Diana McWilliams, a Democrat, captured the seat left open by retiring Rep. David Ennis, who ran and lost in the race for state insurance commissioner.
Hoff said the many advantages of incumbency make it hard for a challenger to break into the General Assembly.
"If you're good at constituent service and get a leadership position, if you show you're doing a good job and don't get involved in scandal - you put all those together and it's really tough," Hoff said.
Hoff said the new Legislature will have to deal with several issues, including staffing of the state's prison system, what to do with the state's student testing program and high school diplomas, state financial assistance for Wilmington and proposals for casino gambling on Wilmington's Riverfront.
Wilmington city officials and state legislators representing the city have been pushing the state for more financial help to avoid a $10 million deficit in three years. Some officials have suggested giving the city a share of the state 's franchise tax, raising the city's 1.25 percent wage tax and giving the city some sort of fee to compensate for state buildings that do not pay property taxes. .
Hoff said a proposal to add sexual orientation to the state's anti-discrimination law could come up in the next legislative session. In 2003, the House passed the measure by one vote, with support from the late Rep. George "Bobby" Quillen, R-Harrington. The measure withered in the Senate.
Quillen died in September, and his 30th District seat will be filled by Republican William R. "Bobby" Outten of Harrington, who won Tuesday's election against Democrat Kimberly Z. Robbins. Outten said he opposes changing the anti-discrimination law.
Hoff said Delaware's divided Legislature can actually be better for the state than if one party controlled both houses. It often forces legislators to work harder and compromise on difficult issues, he said.
"Even if you have both houses and the governor under one party, that doesn't always mean you're going to have agreement," Hoff said.