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Delaware GOP, shut out again in statewide races, grapples for ways to regain relevance

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Delaware GOP, shut out again in statewide races, grapples for ways to regain relevance


Party faithful short on specifics about how to rebound

So how does the Delaware GOP, which hasn’t had a governor since 1992 or a member of Congress since 2010, mount a rebound to even be seriously competitive in statewide races, let alone win them?

Party faithful who gathered Tuesday night at the Hilton near Newark offered various thoughts, but were short on specifics and tangible ways to grow their numbers. Still, they accepted their current diminished status and celebrated live reports that former President Donald Trump looked to be regaining the White House.

Colmery, a retired respiratory therapist who now sells real estate, stated the obvious. “You try to flip the Democrats and the independents,’’ she said.

But how the GOP could close the registration gap and attract candidates that appeal in large numbers to Democrats and non-affiliated voters, was a far thornier question for Colmery. Instead of offering concrete strategic tactics, she responded by criticizing Meyer and current Gov. John Carney, who will become mayor of Wilmington in January. Both are Democrats.

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Colmery also cited the Democrats’ near-total control of Wilmington, where few Republicans even bother to seek office.

“Wilmington’s a big problem because that’s never going to change,’’ she said. “I mean, they just brought in Carney as their mayor. Are you kidding me?”

She said Wilmington’s families raise their children in the Democratic tradition. “That’s all they know,’’ she said. “And no one’s educating them on what’s actually going on in the world. They don’t know.”

However, Colmery’s inflammatory and unsubstantiated rhetoric about the residents in Delaware’s largest city is largely irrelevant statewide because Wilmington only has about 7% of the state’s population of roughly 1 million people.

Besides, Wilmington was overwhelmingly Democratic in the early 1990s, when Delaware had barely 700,000 residents and Republicans held several statewide posts and controlled the state House.

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The reality is that far more of the 300,000 new residents over the last three decades have been Democrats, and they have increasingly voted for members of their own party.

Wilmington’s influence on elections was a theme repeated by several Republicans in the crowd Tuesday, including John Zeron, who owns a Newark chimney sweeping company.

Even though Sussex and Kent counties have higher poverty rates than New Castle County, and some towns in Sussex and Kent have higher poverty rates than Wilmington, Zeron echoed Colmery’s sentiments.

John Zeron (left), who runs a small chimney sweeping company, says the party needs to focus on attracting and helping people with businesses. (Cris Barrish/WHYY)

He said too many New Castle County and Wilmington-area residents receive benefits from government entitlement programs, so they don’t see the Republican party as a viable political home.

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But for Republicans to gain legions of new voters statewide, Zeron said the party needs to focus on people like him.

“What Republicans need to do is really focus on the businessman,” Zeron said before immediately pivoting to a grievance about Democratic-led regulatory rules.

“I’m a business owner and I’ve only got three employees. I would like to have more employees. I would like to grow my business, but the cards are stacked against me.”

‘We don’t want open borders. We want our guns, our country.’

Josie Herninko wasn’t expecting wins Tuesday night, however.

“But I think maybe in a few years, if we keep at it with the grassroots movement, if the people really get out there and really work, we might have a chance, maybe in a couple of years,’’ said Herninko, a retiree.

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Josie Herninko
Josie Herninko says the party needs to focus on grassroots efforts to win voters who share conservative values. (Cris Barrish/WHYY)

But while Trump and his Make America Great Again movement won the nation’s popular vote as well as Pennsylvania and six other so-called swing states to regain the presidency, what message would Herninko use to attract voters to Republican red in blue Delaware?

“You gotta just go out there and let them know what your party stands for, what Republican means,’’ she said. “We’re a party of conservatives. We believe in the Constitution. We believe in the rights. We don’t want open borders. We want our guns, our country, that’s what we want.’’

Julianne Murray, the state’s GOP chairperson and a former unsuccessful candidate for governor and attorney general, acknowledged the steep hurdles her party must overcome to once again be a force in Delaware.

“We are the third party in this state,’’ she said, noting that the GOP’s 209,000 registered voters trail not only the Democrats’ 354,000, but also the 228,000 who are not affiliated with any party or belong to a minor party.

“Those numbers are just super tough to deal with,’’ Murray said. “So the pitch has to be, that I’ll be making, is that we are right on the policies.”

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She said progressive Democrats are exerting far too much pull on the ruling party but as of now, “people aren’t suffering enough [from their governance]. So I’m going to continue to say, ‘Look, the Republican party is alive.’ People have to do some soul searching and kind of figure it out. We also have to put a concerted effort into bringing the unaffiliated back in.”

McCann, a retired general in the Delaware Army National Guard, said the march will be a long one, and noted that from 1969 to 1970, his party held all statewide elective seats.

“So it took 50 years for us to lose it. I’m betting it’s gonna take us 25 to get this back,’’ McCann said. “You don’t get it all back in one day. It’s a building process. It’s one person at a time.”



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Delaware

U.S. House GOP bans Delaware’s U.S. Rep. from same-sex bathrooms

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U.S. House GOP bans Delaware’s U.S. Rep. from same-sex bathrooms


From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina, has introduced legislation that would bar transgender women from using women’s restrooms and other facilities on federal property.

It comes just a few days after she filed a resolution intended to institute a bathroom ban in parts of the U.S. Capitol complex that she said was targeted at Delaware Congresswoman-elect Sarah McBride, a Democrat, who First State voters elected to serve as the first openly transgender person in Congress just two weeks ago.

Mace said to reporters Monday that McBride, who she misgendered during her comments, didn’t “belong in women’s spaces, bathrooms and locker rooms.”

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While not specifically mentioning Mace’s bills, House Speaker Mike Johnson issued a statement Wednesday dictating that House policy in January would ban transgender women from using facilities — like bathrooms and locker rooms — that do not correspond with the sex they were assigned at birth.

“All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,” Johnson said in a statement. It was not clear how the policy would be enforced.

“Each Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol,” he added.

Mace’s resolution, which she said she wanted to be included in the rules package for the next Congress, requires the House sergeant at arms to enforce the ban.



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Delaware Co. woman charged with DUI after crashing into Pennsylvania state police vehicle

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Delaware Co. woman charged with DUI after crashing into Pennsylvania state police vehicle


Wednesday, November 20, 2024 10:33PM

A Drexel Hill woman has been charged with DUI after investigators say she crashed into a Pennsylvania State Police vehicle on I-476.

RIDLEY TWP., Pa. (WPVI) — A Drexel Hill woman has been charged with DUI after investigators say she crashed into a Pennsylvania State Police vehicle on I-476.

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Police say Sara Lawver crashed into the troopers’ patrol car in Ridley Township just after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Troopers were conducting a traffic stop at the time and barely avoided being hit.

No one was injured.

Lawver also faces charges of reckless driving and recklessly endangering another person.

Copyright © 2024 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.

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Today in Delaware County history, Nov. 20

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Today in Delaware County history, Nov. 20


100 Years Ago, 1924: From Washington, D.C.: The Census Bureau today made public estimates of the population of cities between 25,000 and 100,000 population as of July 1, 1924. The population of Chester was given as 66,602. These figures were published by the Times last July on special information from the Census Bureau. The last census, taken in 1920, gave Chester a population of 58,030.

75 Years Ago, 1949: Col. Frank K. Hyatt, Pennsylvania Military College president, is likely to remember today — his 64th birthday — a long, long time. At 7:30 a.m. Saturday, the popular prexy was routed from his bed by the din of the college band and the cheering of the students. When Col. Hyatt investigated the excitement at close range, he was presented with a television set and cries of “Happy birthday!”

50 Years Ago, 1974: Approximately 3,000 production and maintenance workers belonging to United Aerospace Workers Local 1069 went on strike early today against Boeing Vertol Co. It was the first walkout at the Ridley Township plant since 1968 when Local 1069 was out for four days. Local 1069 President Robert T. McHugh said today that negotiations had continued past the midnight deadline set by Local members when they voted to go on strike.

25 Years Ago, 1999: Aston police busted an underage drinking party after responding to a complaint early yesterday. Twenty-one arrests were made, with nine revelers from Aston, three from Delaware, four from West Chester, two from Glen Mills, and one from Folcroft, Media and Maryland. According to a report, officers responded to the 2200 block of Bridgewater Road about 2 a.m. They found two kegs of beer in a bathtub and began questioning those at the house. Officers quickly determined their ages were between 18 and 20. One 21-year-old male was also cited for public drunkenness.

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10 Years Ago, 2014: A group of Widener University communications students published a magazine that features stories and photographs about the school’s home city of Chester. The project was undertaken by the five students of Sam Starnes’ magazine journalism course offered in spring. The students produced every aspect of the publication, including conceiving and writing stories, taking photos and helping to design the publication. “The students did all of the reporting and writing,” Starnes said. “We ran the class just like a newsroom.” Unveiled Thursday afternoon, the 28-page magazine includes photos and stories highlighting Chester’s arts community, Crozer-Chester Medical Center, Laran Bronze foundry and the locally owned Phatso’s Bakery.

— COLIN AINSWORTH



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