What questions do you have about the 2024 elections? What major issues do you want candidates to address? Let us know.

Cast out of office two years ago after being convicted of criminal corruption as Delaware state auditor, Kathy McGuiness attempted a comeback this year by running for a state House seat in her hometown, Rehoboth Beach.

McGuiness campaigned tirelessly against two opponents in the Democratic primary. She filled her Facebook page with photos of her smiling with voters, and had the backing of former House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, who has held the seat for 22 years.

But in Tuesday’s primary election, McGuiness finished a distant third.

Claire Snyder-Hall, who stepped down as head of the government accountability group Common Cause to run for the House, won with 41% of the nearly 3,600 votes cast.

Marty Rendon, 74, a former congressional aide who sits on the Delaware Human and Civil Rights Commission, finished second with 32%.

McGuiness, 57, a pharmacist and business owner who spent 16 years as an elected Rehoboth Beach town commissioner before she won the statewide race for auditor in 2018, only received 27% of the votes Tuesday.

Snyder-Hall faces Republican Mike Simpler, a Beebe Medical Center employee and youth sports leader, in the Nov. 5 general election. Simpler did not have a primary opponent.

Democrats hold a strong registration advantage in the growing district, a popular summer tourist destination that has grappled for years with traffic congestion, rising sea levels, lack of medical care and a dearth of workforce housing.

Snyder-Hall, 59, who ran unsuccessfully for state Senate in 2014 against then-incumbent Republican Ernie Lopez, would be the first woman to represent the Rehoboth Beach area in the General Assembly.

The primary winner said she was “elated” by the outcome and looks forward to November.

“We knocked on thousands of doors all over the district,” Snyder-Hall told WHYY News. “We worked really hard and I just really want to thank the voters and my 95 volunteers and almost 350 unique donors. We all pulled together to make this happen.”

During the campaign, Snyder-Hall said she was “a little surprised that Kathy McGuiness decided to run” but was “betting they want an ethical and effective leader who was well-respected in Dover.”

After defeating McGuiness, however, Snyder-Hall didn’t respond to questions about the former auditor, who was convicted of misdemeanor conflict of interest for hiring her daughter to a job that continued remotely after she returned to the College of Charleston in South Carolina.

Instead, the primary winner focused on her connections in Dover from her advocacy work. “I think that’s what the voters saw, that I’m somebody who can deliver results and who has the relationships that will make me successful,” Snyder-Hall said. “The people have spoken.”

What does election security look like in DE?

Election security in Delaware relies on high-tech like machine learning to detect suspicious patterns, but it’s low-tech, too: No voting booth can be connected to the internet, bluetooth or any other source of electric communications. 

I spoke with the Delaware Department of Technology and Information CSO Solomon Adote ahead of the primaries.

➡️ Read the interview here

UD is embracing AI for creating study tools

This semester is a first for the University of Delaware as it rolls out a new AI platform for faculty called Study AiDE. It helps create study guides for students using 20 years of archived lectures. 

I spoke with two of the technologists behind it, Jevonia “Nova” Harris and Erin Sicuranza.

➡️ Learn more about UD’s AI study tool

One of the industry’s most impactful events

Tens of thousands of women and nonbinary technologists will convene in Philly for the annual Grace Hopper Celebration this October.

Named after Rear Admiral Grace Hopper — one of the first women to receive a doctorate in mathematics — GHC 24 brings together technologists for networking and professional development, and to recognize the work women and nonbinary people are doing in the industry. With a stacked lineup of speakers and sessions, it’s a place to hear from like-minded professionals and uncover insights into the next big trends.

➡️  Join the community in Philly and virtually, Oct. 8-11

News Incubator: What else to know today

• Spotlight Delaware is running a new Election Day live blog as it canvases precincts up and down the state. The blog will run through today’s primary elections. [Spotlight Delaware]

• The Creative Vision Factory has been officially reborn as Recovery Café, located in Wilmington’s Little Italy. The new daytime drop-in offers a safe space and resources for anyone in the community seeking support for issues like addiction, domestic abuse and homelessness. [Delaware Public Media/Technical.ly]

• Five Delaware bills aimed at fighting climate change have just become law. One lays out a plan for moving forward with offshore wind farm contracts. [Delaware Public Media]

• Beach fave Surf Bagel is expanding to its first New Castle County location at the Dove Run Shopping Center in Middletown. Surfers Dave and Tom Vitella founded the NYC-style bagel shop in 2004 and sold it to Lewes-based SoDel Concepts in 2021. [Delaware Business Times]

• HBCU Delaware State University and science electronics manufacturing company Agilent celebrate three years of a STEM partnership that has offered internships and opportunities for students from underrepresented communities. Since 2022, the partnership has provided $3 million in scholarships. [Town Square Delaware/Technical.ly]

• How stressed are we? According to a recent WalletHub report, Wilmington and Dover are among the most stressed cities in the US, ranking at No. 25 and No. 62, respectively. Regionally, we’re even more stressed out: Philly ranks sixth. [Delaware Online]

• School is in, and Dover High’s student body of over 1,800 students is steadily growing. But so is the number of vacant jobs in its Capital School District, which is currently looking to fill 135 positions. [WDEL]

🗓️ On the Calendar

• Friday, Sept. 13 — Book Talk with Don Lemon at Wilmington Library [Details]

• Saturday, Sept. 14 — Chancery Market’s Sip and Shop on the patio [Details]

• Saturday, Sept. 14 — Festival Hispano Wilmington [Details]

• Saturday, Sept. 14 — Soul of the City Festival at The Grand Opera House [Details]

• Saturday, Sept. 14 — Beer Fest at Constitution Yards [Details]

• Tuesday, Sept. 17 — Free Networking Mixer at the Post in Wilmington  [Details]

• Thursday, Sept. 19 — ChristianaCare talk: Unleashing Creativity: Generative AI and the future of UX [Details]

• Partner event: 1682 makes it’s post-COVID return on Oct. 18. Hosted in Center City at the fun Five Below HQ, the ticketed event ($500-$650) features a full day of workshops, panels and more on how AI and innovation are impacting the tech scene. [Register]

Before you go…

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Some voters interviewed at polling places Tuesday mentioned Hall-Long’s troubles but others did not.

Prina Read, of New Castle, said Meyer was her choice.

“Obviously, Delaware as a whole is a much bigger platform and much more territory to cover than New Castle County,’’ Read said. “I think he’s proven his ability to be a good governor.”

Ramada Chapman, of Wilmington, also voted for Meyer.

“It got a little dicey even up to like the last 24 hours but I do think it’s Matt’s time,” Chapman said. “I think he’s done the work to work up to it. And I think it’s time for some fresh leadership with integrity.”

Khaleb Freeman, of Wilmington, said he voted for Hall-Long.

“I kind of fell in love with her personality and who she represented,’’ Freeman said. “I feel like she represents a newer generation in her own way and bringing forth new ideas.”

Kimberly Livington, of the Millcreek area, said she would have voted for Hall-Long but for “the recent scandals” and instead chose O’Mara.

Hall-Long faced revolt in her own campaign after launch

Hall-Long, by virtue of winning two statewide races for lieutenant governor, was widely viewed by political observers as the frontrunner when she announced her candidacy last September, and Carney immediately endorsed her.

At the time, Meyer was her only opponent, having declared his candidacy three months earlier. While Meyer had won two New Castle County races, the Wilmington native and resident was a relatively unknown candidate in Kent and Sussex counties, where about 130,000 of the state’s 351,000 registered Democrats live. Hall-Long, by contrast, hails from Sussex County.

But the race to replace Carney took a dramatic turn within days of Hall-Long’s launch when she abruptly suspended fundraising. That occurred within days of her campaign launch, and forced the cancellation of a handful of events, including one Carney was supposed to host.

Hall-Long’s campaign initially told some supporters she was dealing with a “personal, private matter.’’ But she soon announced that a review of her campaign finances she launched had found “there may have been reporting issues that require attention.” The lieutenant governor promised that forensic accountants would “thoroughly audit’’ her campaign receipts and spending.

What Hall-Long didn’t announce, however, was that her campaign and fundraising managers, plus other staffers and volunteers, had bolted from her team after discovering that more than $207,000 had been paid to her husband and campaign treasurer, Dana Long. The revolt, based on insider accounts, was revealed in a November WHYY News investigation.

The WHYY News story came days after the lieutenant governor said an audit had found she had been sloppy in recording $308,000 in loans that she — not her husband — had made to her campaigns since 2016, and $207,000 in repayments. Dana Long, who was not named as the recipient of the $207,000, was replaced as treasurer and Hall-Long said she would not seek to recoup the $101,000 loan balance.

Yet Hall-Long resisted calls by Meyer, Common Cause of Delaware, and others to release the so-called audit, insisting the issues were behind her and the campaign was back in stride.

Instead, the University of Delaware professor stressed to voters that she was well-equipped and prepared to be the first nurse to become a U.S. governor, and the second woman to hold the post in Delaware.

Carney, who had decided to run for mayor of Wilmington and won Tuesday’s Democratic primary, never held a fundraiser for his handpicked successor. Carney did, however, continue supporting her bid to succeed him, and even recorded a video promoting her candidacy.