Delaware Democrats Blow It (again)
When your political party is deeply unpopular because it stands for nothing, and has no coherent brand identity, (Thanks, Carper! Thanks, John Carney!) you are starting out any special election 100 yards behind the starting line, wearing a 40-pound weight vest. So it is not surprising that the Democratic Party’s lackluster party and brand building claimed another special election victim, as Hosfelt (R), trounced Kreiner (D) in a race for the Kent County Levy Court seat vacated by Bradley Eaby.
The 2nd District has 21,029 registered voters — 10,045 Democrats, 5,626 Republicans and 5,358 other. Delaware Dems turned out a pitiful 660 voters (7%) to the DEGOP’s 1,107 (20%). Even if you assume that ALL of Kent County District 2’s “Other” voters are stealth Republicans, the GOP still turned out 3% more voters than the Democrats.
This result raises an important question, what the fuck are Kent County Democrats doing? Seriously… what the holy fuck is going on when in these days of political unrest the County party can’t muster up more than 660 voters?
| Party | Voters | Voted | Turnout |
| Democrats | 10045 | 660 | 7% |
| Republican | 5626 | 1107 | 20% |
| Republican and Other * | 10984 | 1107 | 10% |
That is truly pathetic. Too many hangers-on from the Nancy Cook years.
With weakness, however, comes opportunity. The county party is clearly ripe for an influx of grassroots activists. Go for it! Then primary Andria Bennett and get her sorry ass out of Dover.
What happened to Swarm gotv and the Sister District project? It shot its wad in New Castle County I guess.
I think El Som is right. The average tenure of someone in the Kent County Party is probably 30 plus years. (The average political philosophy may well be Dixiecrat.) The net/net is that the current political situation is strangely off their radar.
Also – Nice work Daniello! The complete fop, Charlie Copeland, is kicking your ass.
Turns out the folks who oversaw this clusterfuck were John Starke (Kent Chair) Milan Rendon (Vice Chair) and Peggy Johnson (Vice Chair).
Does anyone know these people? Do any of them have a pulse? Based on Don Peterson’s experience with the Sussex County Democrats, it is possible that they were working AGAINST the candidate. That would help explain the 7%.
Kent County democrat office holders have become endangered species. The tide has been turning the last few political elections down here. 2018 is going to be a big year for republicans in Kent County. We will be able to re-take control of Kent County Levy Court and pick up a few seats in the state legislature. We already have quality candidates committed to run against liberals Sen Brian Bushweller and Rep Sean Lynn. Thank you Dixiecrats !!
If the Kent County Democratic Party performs in the next election like it did in this special, the DEGOP certainly has a big opportunity.
As for Sean Lynn, I think he has been doing well despite the party’s pitiful condition, so I don’t think his future hinges on party support. He won with 66.56% last time. The same is probably true for Brian Bushweller who won with 60% last time. If liberalism is a problem, it isn’t one that hurts these guys on election day.
The Kent County Chairmanship basically turned over earlier this month, so I don’t entirely think it’s fair to judge those folk on a few weeks of a special, and I can’t imagine the gop holding that seat come 2018
Fair enough. The only place to go is up.
GOP2018,
I saw this on t-shirt in Rehoboth once, so assuming it has some cultural significance:
“Come at me, bro”.
Kent County will have had plenty of the Party of Trump by 2018.
🙂
Sean
In all seriousness, Kent County needs the attention of the Statewide Party and organization.
The Dover City Council elections are a month away.
Without help, the Republican candidates will take over the City of Dover Council.
Yesterday’s Levy Court special election was a powerful reminder that Kent County needs help if we want Democratic elected officials in office in this County.
Tanner Polce needs your help!
Best,
Sean
City Council and school board are next! We will see… hopefully progressive candidates can pull some wins
Sean
What does “Come at me, bro” mean? I was just stating the fact that Kent County democrats are in big trouble as yesterday’s landslide loss shows. You have lost seats in Kent County the last few election cycles, with more to come in 2018. As you confirmed above “Kent County needs help”. Your words, not mine !!
Who are the Democrats running for Dover City Council? Tanner Polce seems like a good guy, but also strikes me as the start of a BHL farm team. Am I wrong?
I agree that the Kent Dems are shitty when they can’t even field a candidate against Dave Anderson, the man who singlehandedly killed the NYE fireworks last year and gave Wolfgang Von Crazypants and Don Ayotte a blog platform.
Dover is in a clusterfuck of a situation right now. The city manager and planning director are both gone or out the door (the city manager under mysterious secret circumstances), and a certain state rep also named Sean has been stepping on his dick insisting that he be allowed to pick the police chief without an actual search process or interviews.
Gop2018,
It was a silly, tongue in cheek, response to your post above about fielding candidates against us in 2018.
In retrospect, probably not as funny as intended.
Again in all seriousness, your point isn’t lost. D turnout at the special was abysmal. However, I don’t think it’s indicative of a groundswell of R support throughout the county. Time will tell, I suppose.
Sussexwatcher – saw your post. There is no code requirement for a nationwide (or really any search) to hire the next Dover police chief. A committee meets, the mayor selects their candidate and the mayors selection is approved by Council.
My concerns are that: 1) the job description was being altered in a way that precluded the African American candidate from being selected 2) there seems to be a continuing struggle with diversity in the city and 3) the approach that’s being taken seems to exclude the best man for the job.
Sean
Delawarians deserve their crappy polluted developer ran state and pathetic cities
I thought it was funny Sean. Don’t worry, I’ve got your back.
Thank you, Rep. Lynn. Apologies for the coarse language I used earlier.
“There is no code requirement for a nationwide (or really any search) to hire the next Dover police chief.”
But why not use best hiring practices to find the best candidate? They may be right here – but what’s it hurt to go wider and verify that? I just don’t get the need to sidestep a professional process in favor of cherry-picking an individual. Now, if the search committee is demonstrably biased, then that’s another issue.
A Daily Kos link… Aw, shucks.
Rep Lynn, are you sure you want the Democratic state organization involved in Dover and school elections? I thought those elections were nonpartisan. also I thought the Dover mayor was a democrat