Delaware voters could see a rematch in the 2020 race for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Several Republican candidates for office are running again after losing last year.
Republican candidate Lee Murphy is once again seeking to land the state’s lone House seat.
Murphy ran last year against incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester, but fell short by almost 20 points.
Now, Murphy wants a rematch, saying Blunt Rochester isn’t doing enough to further economic development in the state.
“We really need to look at our state,” Murphy said. “And as a Congressman, I’ll work with the state legislature, I’ll work with the governor, I'll work with who the president is. But we really have to restart our economy in the state and provide real, meaningful jobs.”
Murphy notes a decline in the manufacturing industry, a sector that’s lost almost 15 thousand jobs in Delaware since 2000.
But the state’s also gained over 100 thousand other jobs in that same period — with notable gains in healthcare, transportation and finance.
From a federal perspective, Murphy is focusing on national security; both at home and abroad.
Murphy says he learned a lot from his 2020, and plans to bring more organization to this campaign.
“One thing I’ve done going into this campaign — we have a campaign manager in each county: New Castle, Kent and Sussex,” Murphy said. “And these people are really in tune to what’s going on in their particular county.”
Murphy lost to Blunt Rochester by almost 85 thousand votes, which he says was in part because of mail-in voting and President Joe Biden’s presence on the ticket.
He says he’s going to focus on appealing to individual voters, and learning more about the specific issues affecting each county.
Blunt Rochester has yet to announce her re-election campaign, and no other contenders have come forward.
The last Republican to represent Delaware in Congress was Mike Castle, who retired in 2011 and unsuccessfully ran for U.S. senate.
2020 GOP candidate for governor Julianne Murray recently indicated she also plans to unveil her 2022 election plans in mid-September.
Roman Battaglia is a corps member withReport for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
