Most Intriguing Primaries: RD 22
This one is a political scientist’s dream. A retiring long-time legislator. A district which has moved from red to purple. Primaries in both parties.
The retiring legislator is Joe Miro. Probably the last of his breed: A moderate R from a northern New Castle County district that is trending more D every month. Current registration is 6927 D; 6683R; and 5466 I. It has only been within the past year that D registration has surpassed R registration. Miro has represented this district since 1998. He had previously served on New Castle County Council. He is the only Hispanic member of the House, a Cuban-American, and he has served as the President of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators.
The Democratic primary pits Guillermina Gonzalez against Renee Taschner. Gonzalez is running for office for the first time. While she started her career as an executive with Exxon Mobil, Gonzalez went on to lead ‘Voices Without Borders’ in Delaware, and subsequently served eight years as executive director for the Delaware Arts Alliance. You can find out more about Gonzalez here. I especially like her position on criminal justice:
I will support criminal justice reforms that both improve public safety and provide opportunities for the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated – including diverting low-level offenders into support programs rather than prison and ending cash bail system. I will also work to build a culture of community service-based policing and transition away from punitive-based zero tolerance policies to restorative-based practices where chances of success are supported.
As you can see, Gonzalez is skilled in both community outreach and grassroots organization. She is an impressive candidate.
Renee Taschner challenged the Gordon machine and ran against Chris Bullock for County Council President. While she lost that 2012 race by a 56-44 margin, she didn’t hesitate to stand up to the ethical sewer of the Gordon administration. She is a 21-year veteran of, wait for it, the New Castle County Police force. Her public safety positions are not the same as those of Gonzalez:
I retired after a 21-year career in public safety. I served as a patrol supervisor, a member of the crisis negotiating team, and a long time detective and supervisor in the Detective Division on the New Castle County Police force. In addition to the role I played in the apprehension of Delaware’s only serial killer, I led the Detective Squad that investigated physical and sexual abuse of children and domestic violence. I understand the importance of having safe communities in which to live, work and raise our families. As your State Representative, I will take my firsthand knowledge and direct experience to Dover and continue the fight to keep our communities safe.
You can find out more about Taschner here.
The Republican primary features a match-up between Michael Smith and Katherine Beard. Smith previously challenged Miro for the seat back in 2014 and got 43% of the vote. He is a by-the-numbers Chamber R. Don’t believe me? Check out his website. His weasel language on education clearly suggests he’s a Charter School Tool:
We need to empower parents and teachers to lead the way to positive change in education. Parents deserve options and accountability for their child’s education. We’re one of the top states in spending and in the bottom one third in results.
I just love the way that Katherine Beard kicks off her bio:
Kathy cares about people. She is NOT a career politician.
Because, of course, the two are mutually exclusive. She also has ‘…demonstrated sincerity and an ability to get things done throughout her career.’ Am I the only one who recognizes that demonstrating sincerity and being sincere are not necessarily the same thing?
But, I digress. Those are just a couple of my political pet peeves. Beard is a ‘global IT services marketing manager’ for a DuPont spin-off. She is also ‘…a great listener and believes that government’s role is to keep us safe and stay out of our personal lives’. Ho-kay. Any more, and I’ll start grinding my teeth again. Haven’t done that since I stopped working for the General Assembly. You can find out more about Beard here.
Word on the street is that Beard has been outworking Smith, and is likely the favorite in the R primary. This gives some credence to that word, as in last updated in May. Yes, I’ve tried to find his social media pages w/o success. Hey, it’s not my fault that his name is Mike Smith, and that he doesn’t provide links.
If you are involved in these primaries, and/or live in the 22nd, what are you hearing and seeing up there? If this seat flips into the D column this cycle, it will likely remain there. If an R wins, it could well stay that way for awhile. A fascinating race all around.
Guillermina was a fantastic advocate for the arts during my tenure at Candlelight Theatre while she helmed DAA. She always struck me as an impressive leader, and has such great energy & apparent intelligence. She would serve that district with effectiveness.
Which Dem is more likely to beat Kathy Beard?
I’m guessing the one who runs the more effective campaign and wins the primary.
A simplistic answer, I know. But campaigns matter.
Renee Taschner also ran and lost to Janet Kilpatrick in 2010 for the NCCC seat.
From an Adam Taylor article in 2014 where Taschner claimed that Bullock was a threat to the safety of suburban voters:
The two have traded barbs on policing. Taschner is concerned Bullock would advocate for too much of the county’s patrol forces to be dedicated to help the force in Wilmington at the expense at the rest of thecounty. “The city has 322 officers for 11 square miles and we have about 330 for a much larger area than that,” Taschner said. “How would we protect the rest of the county?”
http://delawareway.blogspot.com/2012/09/well-it-took-until-today-for-renee.html
I like Renee personally but not so sure she is the right one for the General Assembly. She will be supporting her interests in law enforcement. I just don’t see any benefit to adding more retired police into the mix down there if we are to achieve criminal justice reforms.
Thanks, Nancy. Great info.
I like Renee as well, but I tend to agree with you.
Taschner’s husband is executive director of DSEA. Nothing against teachers, but we don’t need more interrelationships between legislators and the organizations that regularly lobby them.
I’m biased, but I think Guillermina is the best candidate. In an era marred by cruel and self-righteous politics, she is kind and empathetic, someone who listens and hears what people have to say, instead of just talking at them. Joe Miro, for as much as I disagreed with his politics, was good at building relationships within the community of RD22 with people of every political stripe, and in that vein I think Gigi will be an excellent replacement for him.
Likewise, Guillermina has been running a great campaign. Everyday she’s getting out to where people live. You just have to look at her twitter or Facebook feed to see the photos of her connecting to the people in RD22. Meanwhile, I barely see anything from Renee on her social media.
Charter School Tool? Delaware schools suck so bad Carney, Markell and one third of Delaware have dumped them as “f’ed ” up.
@BenDover:
Yep, Smith is a charter school tool. A few years back, he was a leader in a group that was pushing to get a charter for a school that would put an emphasis on physical fitness. Don’t recall the details, but they wanted to put it somewhere in Hockessin where there was a big swimming pool. (PAL Center, Hockessin Athletic Club, something like that.) Fortunately, the plan couldn’t stay afloat.
Very good report El Somnambulo. keep it up on primary info. That’s a good thing.
RD 22 is where I live. I was in the old RD 20 until it retired to the beach. I’m a Democrat myself. I would suggest you not take comfort in D’s outnumbering R’s. The I’s lean R. That has been shown in each election where D’s could get a candidate on the ballot and only get 40% of the vote in a good year.
RD 22 is a collection of sub-divisions and shopping centers. All the “public” space is privately owned. It is in Red Clay School district and includes Cook Elementary, Linden Hill Elementary, and North Star Elementary. It is “closely” drawn to include and exclude certain sub-divisions. It is important to recall the R’s drew this district to insure Nick Manolakos would lose a primary. Amazingly, in spite of having a Newark zip code in part of the district, it stops well short of Newark, which is OK as most of the people here tend to identify with Wilmington.
RD 22 IS diverse. The Chinese American Community Center is here. The diversity of ethnic restaurants reflects the general demand for somewhere to eat and the presence of those ethnic groups. The people are generally, professional and college educated. It voted for Clinton in 2016 by 2:1 margin.
In a year when anything goes, there is a primary on both sides. It is an embarrassment of riches that has had the same rep in Dover for 20 years. There are two good Democratic candidates. I’ve met both of them and will be happy if either of them can beat whoever the R’s choose.
However, given there is a strong conservative bent in this district, I’m betting the most conservative candidate in both primary contests will win. I’m hoping the stench of national politics will hurt whoever the R’s run.
This seat is “flipable.” I would rather have any D than any R.
Don’t believe the assertion that Mike Smith is being outworked. Winning the 22nd is about organizing through the homeowners’ associations and similar organizations. Mike has been quietly working that for several years. He has a high name recognition among the most likely voters in the district, and managed to pick up that 43% in his primary challenge to Joe on a short calendar with very little money.
Being a charter school advocate is an asset in this district, not a liability, when parents want their kids to go to North Star or Linden Hill to get a leg up on the competition for CSW or DMA.
As for Mike’s participation in the fitness-based charter school, yes, the plan fell through, but it was backed both by key Ds and Rs at the time (including some major players in public education); Mike’s involvement there has not and will not hurt his chances.
I like Mike as a person (he and I disagree on about 80% of our politics), and I can tell you that underestimating him is going to be a mistake. I look for him to win the primary and be a serious contender for the seat.
Steve–a question for you. Is there any residual resentment from Miro about the primary challenge, and is Miro at all involved in the primary on anyone’s behalf?
@Steve,
Just to be clear, my identification of Smith as a charter school advocate was not meant to cast that as a negative — just a statement of fact.
It’s also fair to say that Red Clay, through its choice enrollments and its authorization of charter schools has done more to resegregate public education in New Castle County than any other district. And, had it gotten off the ground, the opening of a charter school dedicated to “health and fitness” set in the heart of Pike Creek/Hockessin would have further contributed to that pattern.