??At age 49, Delaware tea party supporter Chris Ness decided it was time to vote. The Milford woman didn’t make the decision lightly.
Ness comes from a nonvoting family. Her 70-year-old mother last voted in the 1980s, for Ronald Reagan. This year, though, both Chris Ness and her husband cast ballots in the primary.
“It’s scary what they’re doing in Congress,” she said.
Ness is typical of many tea party followers in Delaware. She is new to politics, passionate about her beliefs, and says she researches the candidates. Ness also watches the conservative Fox News and spends a lot of time online networking with others who share her views. As a small business owner who makes slipcovers and curtains, her main concern is jobs and the economy.
“So many of our friends have started losing their businesses, houses, everything,” she said. “It started slow and got worse. Most of the people we know aren’t in business anymore. It’s very scary.”
Like many tea party supporters, Ness wants to see big changes in Washington. She views Christine O’Donnell, Delaware's Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, as the face of that change. But she says she is open to other politicians who share her point of view.
“We want someone fresh and new, not the same politicians who have been there forever,” Ness said. She also cast a primary vote for conservative Glen Urquhart, the GOP nominee for Delaware's U.S. House seat. "I want someone who knows what they’re doing but is not buddy-buddy with everyone else.”
Ness also has an eye on local races, though she isn’t completely sure how she will vote in every one. She plans to vote for Republican Harold (Jack) Peterman in Delaware’s 33rd House district. But for Kent County Levy Court, Ness says, "I still haven’t made a decision.”
No matter how she votes, Ness says the experience has changed her. “This is the first year I ever voted,” she said. “I feel empowered with my vote.”
Ron Shirey of Laurel doesn’t want politicians to be swayed by outside interests or friendships, either. His wife, Chris, is the state coordinator for tea party activities in Delaware .
Shirey maintains that the group does not seek to endorse candidates along party lines but rather to help voters find candidates who most represent their values. “Our goal is to educate—get the word out, let the voter make up their own mind,” he said.
This election season the group is supporting two Republicans, O’Donnell and Urquhart, and two Democrats: incumbent Sussex County Recorder of Deeds John Brady, a Republican turned Democrat in 2009, and Richard Korn, a businessman running for state auditor.
“We’re pretty well right there in the middle,” Shirey said.
She says that since O'Donnell's win in the primary, the couple has been “overwhelmed with phone calls and overrun with support" for the tea-party-backed nominee. In the last three days the Shireys have attended almost a dozen meetings and fielded phone calls from two dozen reporters.
Organizing and dealing with media is a new experience for the Shireys, who until 18 months ago had never paid much attention to politics. “The health care bill came through, and the bailout—that’s what got me and my wife motivated,” Ron Shirley said. “My wife works at a hospital. She’s a respiratory therapist. [Our health insurance] went up $1,600 dollars.”
The Shireys decided to research their candidates and become more involved in the political process. “We started to eyeball things a little more,” he said.
Like many other members, Ron Shirley found a voice in the tea party movement.
“The tea party was just an outlet where they can organize,” he said. “There ain’t no politician listening to the regular people. These people are self-motivated. They’re researching these candidates. Checking past voting records, where they didn’t use to do it.”
Throughout American history, citizen groups have organized around a candidate, an issue, or a reaction to a change in government, said Jason Mycoff, associate professor of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware. At any one time there are thousands of political groups forming in the U.S., he said. Most of them stay far out of the spotlight, often merging with other parties, or dissolving over time.
The tea party "seems to be picking up steam right now as a movement,” Professor Mycoff said. But he doesn’t see it having a tremendous impact on Delaware’s local races, unless a candidate is in a tight race with a tea party-backed opponent. That’s where the tea party’s ability to get out the vote could change the political equation.
“In close a race that can make the difference between losing and winning,” Professor Mycoff said.
As to whether the movement will have any long-lasting influence in Delaware, he says, "I would imagine that the answer will come with how successful candidates are in November.”