As Delaware Republicans ponder their setbacks in the 2010 election, few may be more qualified to speak about those setbacks, and the lessons learned, than Tom Kovach, Rick Carroll, and Chris Weeks. All three were Republican candidates for the state House of Representatives—Kovach an incumbent—and all three lost. They spent long days and chilly nights knocking on doors in their districts and talking politics face to face with thousands of their neighbors. The former candidates have specific ideas about what their party needs to do to regain the ground it lost.
[caption id="attachment_5906" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Rick Carroll lost to Democrat Gerald Brady in the race for 4th District state representative. "]
Carroll, who challenged Democrat Gerald Brady in the 4th District, is a lawyer who has been active with volunteer civic groups in New Castle County but was new to electoral politics. “I was very pleasantly surprised by how informed the average voter was,” Carroll said. And people were friendly, he found. No matter what party people belonged to, no doors were slammed in his face. He now feels that the political bickering in the media happens within “a very small, vocal segment of the population.”
But although people were cordial in face-to-face encounters, Carroll does point to problems between the Republican Party's conservative and moderate wings. “Republicans have to do everything right, and then get lucky, in order to win, and I think this year showed that we didn’t do everything right,” he said. “We devolved into infighting.”
In part Carroll blames the relative isolation of the party’s factions. Conservatives and moderates weren’t mingling at each other’s events, which he says “made it easier for each side to be somewhat rude to the other side.”
Carroll believes that in the short term, the party’s conservative and moderate wings have to find a way to live together: “[W]e’ve got to stop fighting with one another,” he says. In the long term there has to be a rapprochement, he said, “and obviously both sides are going to have to give a little bit.
“If we’re still fighting 18 months from now,” Carroll wondered, “what kind of candidates are we going to convince to run?”
[caption id="attachment_5904" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Chris Weeks lost his challenge to Democratic House Majority Leader Pete Schwartzkopf in the 14th District."]
Chris Weeks lost to Democratic House Majority leader Pete Schwartzkopf in Sussex County’s 14th District. He says he found the experience very positive, even when talking to people with signs for Democrats on their lawns. He made it a point to talk to everyone. “I didn’t want the sign in the yard to discourage me from at least introducing myself,” he said. In fact he found those to be some of his most enjoyable conversations.
Weeks, who works as a business developer, says being a challenger who was new to politics was “very empowering. You can be completely honest.” He says the experience made him realize how being an incumbent could easily make a person more cautious and less candid in expressing opinions.
Voters' perceived lack of honesty and candor in the political world was, according to Weeks, a factor motivating the conservative movement in Sussex County. He believes that the party establishment made a mistake in dismissing a movement it viewed as radical and reactionary. Weeks says downstate conservatives were frustrated and angry because they felt their concerns were not being heard and because there was too much political “inside baseball” taking place.
Weeks believes the conservatives will become more influential. The Republican Party needs “to recognize and respect the southern Delaware conservative,” he said. “They need to be reckoned with.
“Clearly, we lost, so clearly we have to change the way we do things,” he said. “I think [party leaders] need to take a good, serious look in the mirror and they need to have a real honest discussion with themselves about where they’ve been and where they want to go.”
Carroll and Weeks both said that although they intended to continue being part of civic organizations in their communities, it was too soon to say whether they would to get back into electoral politics in 2012.
[caption id="attachment_5905" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Tom Kovach lost his bid to retain the 6th District State House seat, but is now running for New Castle County Council President."]
But Kovach, who lost to challenger Debra Heffernan in the 6th District, has returned to the fray as the Republican candidate in the special election for New Castle County Council president. For Kovach, fiscal conservatism is the bond that can repair Republican divisions and resonate with independents and Democrats as well. Social issues motivate people, Kovach says, but those issues often don’t have much relevance to state and local government activities.
“We have to have people realize what the important issues are facing our society, concentrate on those, and have candidates that can reflect where they live and, quite frankly, prevail and win,” Kovach said. “You have to have a candidate that can win in an area. And I think we need to get back to that as a party and not have a one-size-fits-all approach to a district up in New Castle County or a district down in Sussex County. We have to have different types of candidates who can all work together.
“Obviously the conservative movement is still strong and alive in Kent County and in Sussex County,” Kovach said. “I think the fiscal conservative movement is still alive in New Castle County. I’ve run into countless independents and Democrats who describe themselves as fiscally conservative. But they’re quite frankly scared away by some of the issues that don’t come up very often, if at all, in state and local government. And I think that has a polarizing effect.”
Kovach is confident the Republicans can come back from their recent losses if they find the right candidates. The party should acknowledge the social conservatives’ concerns but keep the main emphasis on fiscal conservatism.
“If you support a fiscal conservative that’s strong on supporting schools, strong on supporting the environment, I think that candidate resonates across party lines,” he said. “I think that person can be successful up and down the state.”
