Incumbent Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart fended off a primary challenge from 3 other candidates, including the Democratic Party endorsed candidate Mitch Crane, grabbing 32 percent of the vote, beating Crane by less than 1,000 votes.
Weldin Stewart (D), speaks to WDDE after her win in the primary election.
Weldin Stewart (D), speaks to WDDE after her win in the primary election.
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"We’ll be working on the general election. And, we do still have a lot of work to do," said Stewart. "It’s an over-time job and I love it because that’s my background. And I love the fact that I get up every morning and go to work and I know we’re going to at least help someone and sometimes it’s thousands.”
She will face Republican Ben Mobley in the November General election.
The other statewide races saw lopsided wins for Sen. Tom Carper and Tom Kovach.
Sen. Carper, facing his first primary challenge in 20 years, easily outdistanced his opponent Keith Spanarelli with more than 87 percent of the vote.
“First of all, I want to thank Keith Spanarelli for his enthusiasm in this campaign and for his graciousness tonight. While he’s relatively new to the scene here in Delaware, I hope he’ll seek other opportunities to serve our state in the future," said Sen.Carper in a statement. "On this perfect late summer day, I also want to thank the thousands upon thousands of Delawareans who went to the polls and cast their votes – especially Delaware Democrats for their strong vote of confidence. Last but certainly not least, I want to thank our campaign’s dedicated volunteers, whose hard work helped make this victory possible and who have helped give me the privilege of serving as our party’s standard bearer in Delaware in November."
Carper faces Republican Kevin Wade, Independent Alex Pires and Green Party candidate Andrew Groff in the General election.
In the Republican primary for Delaware's lone U.S. House seat, Kovach scored and easy win over Rose Izzo. Kovach will face incumbent John Carney in the November general election.
Voter turnout for statewide offices was slightly up for Democrats and drastically down for Republicans since 2010. 17 percent of First State Democrats headed to the poles yesterday – up from 12 percent two years ago. Meanwhile, 13 percent of Republicans voted in this year’s primary, which is less than half of the 32 percent who turned out in 2010.