Delaware
Delaware primary to decide governor's contest and could pave the path for US House history
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Voters in Delaware are set to decide the nominees for several political contests, including a closely watched campaign for governor and a potentially historic race for U.S. House.
The contest for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination that pits Delaware’s lieutenant governor against the chief executive of the state’s most populous county is the marquee race in Tuesday’s primary election.
Democrats also are voting in a U.S. House race where the favored candidate if elected would be the first openly transgender person in Congress. That would join another trailblazing race in November in which the lone Democratic candidate for an open U.S. Senate seat could become one of only two Black women in the Senate next year.
Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. John Carney is hoping to continue his long career in politics by winning his party’s nomination for mayor of Wilmington.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Here’s a closer look at those key races:
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR U.S. HOUSE
State Sen. Sarah McBride would move one step closer to becoming the first openly transgender person elected to the U.S. Congress with a win in the Democrat primary on Tuesday. Delaware’s lone U.S. House seat is being vacated by Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who has no primary opponent as she seeks the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Tom Carper, who held the seat since 2001.
McBride faces only token opposition in the primary from businessmen Earl Cooper and Elias Weir, neither of whom reported raising any money for their campaigns. Cooper is a political newcomer, while Weir finished dead last in a 2016 congressional primary with less than 1% of the vote. McBride, meanwhile, has raised almost $3 million in contributions from around the country.
McBride achieved national recognition at the 2016 Democratic National Convention as the first openly transgender person to address a major party convention in the United States.
The winner of Tuesday’s primary will go up against either Donyale Hall, a Dover businesswoman and a Gulf War-era veteran of the U.S. Air Force, or James Whalen IIII, a retired state police officer and construction company owner from Millsboro, who are facing off in the GOP primary. Democrats have held the seat since 2010.
Meanwhile, with a victory in November Blunt Rochester could become one of only two Black women in the Senate next year, joining Angela Alsobrooks of neighboring Maryland if she is also victorious in her campaign.
DEMOCRATIC GUBERNATORIAL PRIMARY
Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long, who has held public office since winning a state House seat in 2002, is hoping to overcome a campaign finance scandal and succeed Carney, who can’t run for governor again due to term limits. Hall-Long has been endorsed by Carney and Delaware’s Democrat Party establishment.
But the two-term lieutenant governor is facing a tough primary challenge from New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer, who has raised substantially more money and has repeatedly drawn attention to Hall-Long’s campaign finance violations. Former state Environmental Secretary Collin O’Mara also is seeking the Democratic nomination, but has been overshadowed by the other two candidates.
Hall-Long’s campaign finance scandal surfaced last September, when she abruptly postponed a campaign event with Carney, saying she needed to attend to “a personal, private matter.”
In reality, her campaign was in disarray after people hired to lead it discovered major discrepancies while reviewing years of finance reports. The scandal led to a series of resignations among top campaign staff and prompted election officials to commission a forensic audit. The audit found that Hall-Long and her husband had received payments totaling $33,000 more than what she purportedly loaned to her campaign over several years — with many of the loans never being reported in the first instance.
It also found that Hall-Long’s husband and former campaign treasurer, Dana Long, wrote 112 checks to himself or to cash. The checks totaled just under $300,000 and should have been reported as expenditures. Instead, 109 were never reported in initial finance reports, and the other four, payable to Dana Long, were reported as being made to someone else.
Despite the violations, Delaware’s attorney general and elections commissioner, both fellow Democrats, declined to seek criminal charges against Hall-Long.
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR WILMINGTON MAYOR
Carney is prohibited by law from seeking a third term as governor, but he wants to remain in public office as a chief executive and is seeking the Democratic nomination for mayor of Wilmington, Delaware’s largest city.
His opponent is Velda Jones-Potter, a former Wilmington city treasurer who lost a bid for mayor four years ago. Potter served a two-year stint as Delaware’s state treasurer after being appointed to that post in 2008, but she lost an election for a four-year term as treasurer in 2010.
The winner of Tuesday’s primary will face no opposition in November. Carney has said as mayor he would build on the investments his gubernatorial administration has made in Wilmington, with a focus on improving public schools, expanding affordable housing and helping small businesses.
Klondike Kate’s Christmas makeover in Newark features The Grinch
Klondike Kate’s turns to an unlikely hero in its fifth season of holiday-themed transformations as The Grinch gets his spotlight at the Newark bar and restaurant for 2024’s Christmas festivities.
This holiday season, the Delaware State Fair wants to warm you up for summer 2025 with headliners CeCe Winans and comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias.
Tickets for both shows are now on sale.
Here’s what you need to know about legendary singer CeCe Winans and the acclaimed entertainer Fluffy, plus how to secure tickets to their performances.
Who is Gabriel ‘Fluffy’ Iglesias?
Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias is arguably the cuddliest comedian in the world. This jolly giant is coming back to Harrington this summer with more shenanigans.
Fluffy, who headlined the Delaware State Fair in 2023 and 2017, has over 25 million followers across his social media platforms. The comedian’s ability to dish up clean while still making all ages laugh has separated him from the pack. Fluffy will work his magic to squeeze big laughs out of the audience when he returns to the Small Wonder.
How much are tickets to see Gabriel ‘Fluffy’ Iglesias?
Fluffy’s show at the Delaware State Fair starts at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 20. Tickets are $48-$84. For tickets, visit delawarestatefair.com.
Who is CeCe Winans?
CeCe Winans is recognized as the best-selling and most award-winning female gospel artist of all time. She has won 15 Grammy Awards, plus 27 Dove Awards and 16 Stellar Awards, according to her bio.
Beyond being a respected gospel singer, CeCe has established a legacy as one of the most accomplished female music artists of all time. She currently has one more Grammy Award than superstar singer Taylor Swift.
Some of the notable songs CeCe is known for singing include “Goodness of God,” “Holy Forever,” and “Count on Me” with Whitney Houston.
In October, CeCe dropped her new Christmas album titled “Joyful, Joyful.”
CeCe is one of 10 siblings in the famous musical family, The Winans, and is widely known for performing alongside her brother Benjamin in the acclaimed duo BeBe & CeCe Winans. In addition to BeBe & CeCe, her parents and siblings have released music under a wide variety of names including Mom and Pop Winans (CeCe’s parents) and The Winans (four of CeCe’s brothers).
How much are CeCe Winans tickets?
CeCe Winans’ show at the Delaware State Fair starts at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 22. Tickets are $38-$73. For tickets, visit delawarestatefair.com.
When is the Delaware State Fair?
The 106th Delaware State Fair (18500 S. Dupont Highway, Harrington) launches for 10 summer days, starting Thursday, July 17 to Saturday, July 26 2025. For more updates on headliners and other information, visit delawarestatefair.com.
If you have an interesting story idea, email lifestyle reporter Andre Lamar at alamar@gannett.com. Consider signing up for his weekly newsletter, DO Delaware, at delawareonline.com/newsletters.
Chip Guy, the Sussex County spokesman, said Stark was mistaken in believing the county was awarding her a building permit.
“To be clear, the county DID NOT issue a building permit,’’ Guy said in an emailed response to questions about The Farm’s bid to put astore in Sussex.
Guy said an official “notified the applicant that the building plan review [tenant fit-out] had cleared initial steps. That is but one step that is part of the process in determining whether to issue a building permit in the first place.”
Guy said the county’s “due diligence’’ found that The Farm’s location simply did not qualify for approval.
Stark remains flabbergasted by the decision, saying she had relied on the state’s approval of the location as well as the state’s identified patient need for that area of Sussex.
“In my mind, when they approved that location and we started spending money and had rent to pay, and drawings put together, and had to start seeking other approvals and permits, it was an established use,” Stark said.
Robert Coupe, the state’s marijuana commissioner, said the state’s hands are tied as long as the current state law remains in effect.
“There’s nothing for me to do. They have to fight that fight,’’ Coupe said of Stark.
Coupe, whose office will soon issue 30 licenses for retail recreational marijuana stores statewide, added that Sussex’s “three-mile buffer, as it currently exists, definitely presents challenges for our selected applicants” in Sussex, where 10 retail licenses will be granted.
“If it appears that it will be difficult for them to find areas to operate, probably a focus for them will be on specific towns that have said they will allow operations,” he said.
Guy, who has not agreed to do any interviews on the Sussex law, wrote last month that he disagrees with the assertion that no parcels exist in unincorporated Sussex for retail stores. Yet he would not identify any permitted sites, or consent to a request by WHYY News to analyze the zoning map to find any.
Stark said she has spoken to a lawyer about her options, and if her efforts fail, is also considering whether to find a site elsewhere in Sussex, perhaps within the town limits of Frankford, which hasn’t banned cannabis stores.
“It’s ridiculous,’’ Stark said of her company’s predicament in Sussex. “And more people just need to know it’s ridiculous.”
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.”
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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