In all likelihood, Dennis Williams will be the next mayor of Wilmington, while Tom Gordon has taken a major step toward returning to the New Castle County Executive's office.
Williams won a five way race in the Democratic primary for Wilmington mayor, garnering nearly 39 percent of the vote to edge out Kevin Kelley and Bill Montgomery (29 percent and 21 percent, respectively).
Dennis Williams (D), speaks to supporters after being announced as the winner of the mayoral primary election for Wilmington.
Dennis Williams (D), speaks to supporters after being announced as the winner of the mayoral primary election for Wilmington.
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Williams says he will bring change to Wilmington.
"We are going to give young people and opportunity to lead. We are going to give women an opportunity to lead. And most of all we are going to be a mayor for everyone in this city," Williams told supporters Tuesday night.
Williams does not have a Republican challenger on the November ballot after Kevin Melloy was dropped from the ballot last week when the check for his filing fee bounced. Melloy earlier this week said he will continue to run as a write-in candidate, while the Republican Party says it will seek a new candidate to run under its banner.
The Democratic race for New Castle County Executive featured a field of four, though it came down to the incumbent Paul Clark and former County Executive Tom Gordon. In what was an often contentious race, Gordon won defeating Clark by almost 13 percent or 4,536 votes.
Gordon faces little-known Republican Mark Blake in the November general election, and is confident he have the chance to work toward his priorities after that race.
Tom Gordon (D) talks to WDDE after winning the primary election for NCCo Executive.
Tom Gordon (D) talks to WDDE after winning the primary election for NCCo Executive.
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"It's always been three [things]: development - reining it in, public safety - putting it back to a priority, and this is fiscal issues. I look forward to working with the citizens of New Castle County. I'm looking forward to working with them again and getting them involved in government again," said Gordon.
There were two other contested Democratic primaries in New Castle County, the race for President of County Council and County Council District 8. Christopher Bullock won a close race for President of County Council by 12 percent against Renee Taschner. The race for District 8 was not as close with John Cartier winning by a 32 percent margin.
The only other contested primaries at the county level were in Sussex County where there were three Republican battles for County Council. In those races Michael Vincent took District 1 while Samuel Wilson Jr. won the race in District 2. The closest of the races was in District 3 between Donald Ayotte and Brent Wangen. Ayotte edged out Wangen by 4.6 percent or 147 votes.