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Walker pulls off upset in GOP U.S. House primary

The biggest upset of the Delaware primary came in the GOP race for U.S. House.

Scott Walker stunned the party-backed candidate Lee Murphy.

And you can count Walker himself among those shocked by his victory

 

Yes, I was," Walker told Delaware Public Media Friday morning. "I’d actually written the whole thing off and had decided to go back to my gardens business today.  And I had cleaned out my car, and got rid of all the signs, everything involved with the campaign."  

Instead, Walker will need to put up more of his unquie, homemade signs after grabbing 53% of the vote, and topping Murphy by just over 2,200 votes to take the GOP’s spot on the November U.S. House ballot.

It’s quite a turnaround from two years ago when Walker ran for U.S. House as a Democrat, only garnered about 3,100 votes and finished fifth in six-person primary.

Walker says he doesn’t believe his switch to the GOP column this time is a disingenuous move  

 

I’m an individual.  I happen to be running as a Republican," said Walker. "I think my ideas are a little bit more in line with Republicans, but I value a lot of the Democrats’ ideas."

Walker says he intends to focus on the economy and education as he runs tries to unseat Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester, the incumbent Democrat, in the race for Delaware's lone U.S. House seat.

 

Walker says he realizes it’s a race where he is outmatched in both name recognition and fundraising.

"I don’t depend on anybody.  I don’t have any staff or anything.  I don’t need any money," said Walker. "All I need is to get my name our there so a lot of people know who I am and they will listen to who I am, what I say and what I believ.  And that will carry me through."

Blunt Rochester is seeking her second term as Delaware's Congresswomen.  Her 2016 victory made her the first woman and first person of color to represent the stae in Congress.

 

 

Tom Byrne has been a fixture covering news in Delaware for three decades. He joined Delaware Public Media in 2010 as our first news director and has guided the news team ever since. When he's not covering the news, he can be found reading history or pursuing his love of all things athletic.
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