With Election Day just days away - Delaware Public Media continues its look at key legislative races in Kent County. Open legislative seats are magnets for minority parties and this year is no exception. Delaware Republicans are looking to capitalize on four of them in 2014 – two of them in Kent County, and two in New Castle County. As Delaware Public Media’s James Dawson reports, the heaviest lift comes in the capital city itself.
[audio:http://www.wdde.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/25124-31stfeature.mp3|titles= Delaware Public Media's James Dawson profiles the race in the 31st House District.]
Let’s get the numbers out of the way.
Even if every registered Republican and third party voter in the 31st district cast their ballot for Sam Chick, registered Democrats outnumber them by about 500.
The slight bright side for Chick – a Republican who’s making his second run for a state House seat this year – is that not everyone votes.
58 percent of registered voters in the district went to their polling place in 2012. It still spelled a significant loss for Chick who fell to incumbent Democrat Darryl Scott by 25 points.
After serving three terms, though, Scott said in March he would step down. Dover City Councilman Sean Lynn soon announced his candidacy and handily won a Democratic primary challenge in September.
Chick and Lynn differ on what are expected to be key issues facing state lawmakers in January, including infrastructure spending and stagnant revenues.
Chick, along with every other Republican in the General Assembly, opposes Gov. Jack Markell’s ten-cent gas tax proposal that nosedived earlier this year.
Lynn is more vague on the issue, saying he’s “not necessarily sure” the gas tax is how to chip away at a backlog of DelDOT projects and deferred maintenance throughout the state.
Nonetheless, he says something has to be done.
“When you talk about jobs, when you talk about economic development, unless we have the kind of underpinning, unless we have that kind of skeletal system, I don’t think we can do a lot on the other end of it,” said Lynn.
The state’s tightening budget will also play a large in the General Assembly. A revenue forecast in September projects a 17 million dollar dip in their bottom line from June’s number.
Most of those losses center around falling lottery, cigarette and corporate taxes.
Lynn says if that pattern holds, nothing should be off the table – including new or increased taxes – to bolster the budget.
“My biggest goal is that we need to be proactive and really address problems today and really not kind of bury our heads in the sand and say, ‘Let’s just keep the status quo for the benefit of keeping our jobs as elected officials,’” said Lynn.
Their views on social issues more closely align – including on the subject of legal marijuana.
Chick says he fully supports it along with 56 percent of Delawareans surveyed in a recent University of Delaware poll.
Efforts to decriminalize the drug are expected to return in January, but he says that still allows a black market to thrive with a hands-off approach from the state.
“You prohibit these substances, no matter what, people are still going to go out, they’re still going to try and get high," said Chick. "We can’t even keep pot out of prison. How do you think we’re going to keep it off the streets?”
Lynn notes that he backs full legalization, but that more thought needs to be put into regulations surrounding the growth and ultimate sale of pot.
Despite facing such a sheer wall, Chick remains optimistic of his chances. He says he’s earning wide support outside his base.
“I have a lot of Democrats who are supporting me, a lot of Independents who are supporting me. Anywhere from they’ll call themselves super liberal to blue dogs, it’s all across the board. It’s not just one segment there,” Chick said.
The question is, will it be enough?
