What seemed like a quiet race for Delaware governor has turned into a bitter fight ahead of next week’s primary election after the frontrunner has been mired in accusations of improperly handling campaign money.

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

What seemed like a quiet race for Delaware governor has turned into a bitter fight ahead of Tuesday’s primary election. The front-runner has been mired in accusations of improperly handling campaign money. From Delaware Public Media, Sarah Petrowich reports the contest has devolved into accusations of fraud and outside influence.

SARAH PETROWICH, BYLINE: Delaware’s Democratic lieutenant governor, Bethany Hall-Long, appeared to be the likely successor to term-limited Governor John Carney, immediately receiving his endorsement last year after she announced her candidacy.

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JOHN CARNEY: I know Bethany Hall-Long as well as anybody, and she’s remarkably ready to be the next governor of Delaware.

PETROWICH: She served for nearly two decades in the legislature and as Carney’s second-in-command since 2017. But just two weeks after kicking off her campaign, her staff began to raise questions about financial reporting. They found between 2016 and 2022, more than $200,000 in campaign funds was paid out to Hall-Long’s husband, who was her campaign treasurer at the time. She says the money was a reimbursement for loans.

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BETHANY HALL-LONG: If there are inaccuracies or misreporting – mistakes, they will be fixed, and that’s where we are. We’re working on making sure those are fixed. But at the end of the day, you know, I want to be crystal clear that we are confident. You know, we have loaned more to this campaign than we’ve ever been reimbursed.

PETROWICH: But the Delaware Department of Elections said the couple paid themselves over $30,000 more than they should have. Delaware’s Democratic Attorney General Kathy Jennings agreed with election officials’ decision to not pursue charges, saying state campaign finance law is too narrow to prosecute.

KATHY JENNINGS: The analysis that was done by the Department of Election is spot-on, and that is – it’s very difficult to prove.

PETROWICH: The cloud around her campaign has opened up the door for Democratic candidate Matt Meyer, an attorney and former teacher who, since 2017, has led New Castle County, home of Wilmington.

MATT MEYER: I’ve been astounded by the level of corruption we’ve seen from my opponent. And it’s a reminder to me of why I got into politics in the first place.

PETROWICH: He says Hall-Long is emblematic of the so-called Delaware way, a political tradition that relies on personal relationships, and he proclaims himself as an outsider to the longstanding custom. Hall-Long argues Meyer has done far worse than her reporting errors, criticizing him for benefiting from out-of-state money and large-scale corporate donors.

HALL-LONG: Dark money is trying to buy this governorship. Delaware is not for sale.

PETROWICH: Two PACs have spent $2.4 million combined either attacking Hall-Long or supporting Meyer this year. But Meyer says he wants nothing to do with the groups.

MEYER: There is a level of outside money in this race like Delaware has never seen before, and it’s wrong.

PETROWICH: University of Delaware professor Paul Brewer says it’s a challenge to get campaign messages out to Delaware voters in the first place, making it hard for candidates to differentiate themselves in primary elections.

PAUL BREWER: So they tend to run on things like biography, experience, personal stories or, in this case, potential scandals.

PETROWICH: Colin O’Mara, the current CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, is the third Democrat in the race. He says he’s running to address Delaware’s low literacy rates, high health care and housing costs and vulnerability to climate change.

COLIN O’MARA: Yet what I’ve found is that this race hasn’t really been about that. It’s been about negative attacks. It’s been about massive dark money. It’s been about kind of everything but the things that we need to be fixing in our state.

PETROWICH: While polling has been scant, internal surveys have shown the race tightening in recent months. Three candidates are running in the Republican primary as well, but Delaware hasn’t had a Republican governor since 1993. For NPR News, I’m Sarah Petrowich in Dover.

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