Election Day is less than a week away and in the final days before voters head to their polling places WDDE is taking a longer look at some key state legislative races in the First State.
Today, Joseph Leahy examines the 32nd House District race:
Delaware’s 32nd District House race between Andria Bennett and Ellis Parrot has been one of the more closely watched contests of this election cycle. Democrats hope Bennett will hold on to the seat vacated by her husband, Brad, who recently served jail time for drunk driving, while Republicans hope the unplanned change in roster will give Parrot the chance to eek out a victory.
The 32nd District covers the south-east side of the state capital all the way to the Delaware Bay. The District’s House seat has been a Democratic stronghold for decades.
But since Brad Bennett dropped his bid for a second term after pleading guilty this summer to his second DUI, Kent County Republicans have seen their best chance in years to make a go for the seat.
More from WDDE's interviews with 32nd District House candidate Ellis Parrot and Kent Co. Democratic Party chair Abby Betts.
More from WDDE's interviews with 32nd District House candidate Ellis Parrot and Kent Co. Democratic Party chair Abby Betts.
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According to Delaware’s Department of Elections, about half of the 32nd’s 12 hundred registered voters are Democrats, while about a quarter are Republican. The remaining quarter are Independents, through whom the GOP sees a slim but clear chance for their candidate Ellis Parrot, a former Dover police officer and county judge who served on the bench for over 25 years.
“I got to know most of the people in the area and most of their problems both criminally and civilly. I think that gave me a sense of what’s fair and just and that’s what I feel is important to a legislator,” said Parrot in an interview with WDDE.
Andria Bennett is familiar to the political process, not only the wife of Brad Bennett, but as daughter of Representative John Viola of Newark and legislative assistant to Democratic state senators Margaret Rose-Henry and Karen Peterson.
Since winning her party’s nomination, Bennett has refused interview requests by WDDE. But, on primary night in September she told WDDE that her husband’s DUIs and subsequent 60-day jail sentence would not be an issue for her constituents.
“When I knock on doors… When they put two and two together their first question is ‘how is your husband doing? Is he getting the help that he needs?',” said Bennett.
Though she’s lived in the District for less than a year, Bennett added also that she was not merely running to keep warm her husband’s seat in the Legislature.
“If [constituents] said ‘I read the article about being a place holder,’ I’d say to them ‘I assure you that I’m not a place holder.’ And then they’d look at my background and they’d say well we believe you,” said Bennett.
Kent County Democratic Committee Chair Abby Betts says Bennett’s background as legislative aide does give her an edge over her opponent and the experience needed to represent the 32nd.
And despite her recent reclusiveness with some media, Betts says Bennett keeps close ties where it counts: with her constituents.
"People aren’t going to continue to support you if you’re not going to pick up that phone and call them back. Regardless of how major or minor the issue is – call them back. And I believe she will do that. She will work for the people of that district and I have no doubt that that seat will stay on our side,” said Betts.
Betts’ confidence that the 32nd will elect another Democrat is backed up by decades of precedent. In this election cycle too, she says, it’s no secret that Democrats across the board are still firmly in charge.
“A lot of times you hear that and it’s like ‘the Democrats have it all.’ Well, yes. We do. And right now we do. Who knows what the next election will hold or two. It’s like a circle. We all get our turn,” said Betts.
With no opinion polls for Delaware state politics, however, the only time to know for sure who’s turn it is will be after November 6th.