Incumbent Dover Mayor Robin Christiansen handily won reelection on Tuesday after facing his first challenger in eight years.
Christiansen - Dover’s mayor since 2014 - defeated first-time challenger Diana Welch by just over 300 votes in a low-turnout election. Christiansen received 850 votes to Welch’s 526; for comparison, Christiansen won his last contested election with nearly 1,400 votes.
Some voters attributed the low turnout to the city’s decision to offer only a single polling location at an Elk’s Lodge west of downtown.
Christiansen had not faced a challenger in eight years — a detail Welch cited as one of her primary reasons for entering the race.
Outside the Elk’s Lodge on Tuesday morning, Welch’s supporters argued Christiansen is partially responsible for Dover’s stagnant downtown, while Christiansen supporters contended Welch’s campaign had relied on negative messaging unbefitting of small-town politics.
A recently released strategic plan to redevelop downtown Dover – including the addition of a thousand new apartments to the city’s core – loomed over the race.
Responding to concerns from Welch voters that the city would never move forward with the plan, Christiansen claimed that he intends to maintain momentum.
“I’m going to make sure it doesn’t happen, because while it needs some tweaking – I have concerns about gentrification – we need to have some plan," he said.
Welch says she may consider running again in 2027; Christiansen says this will likely be his final term. For now, Welch urges Christiansen to hire a full-time grant writer and pursue a broad range of funding opportunities to get the downtown revitalization project — with a projected price tag of $500 million — off the ground as soon as possible.
“Whether we get grants, whether we use land-leases – however we do it, it has to move forward," she said. "I hope it happens, and I will help in any way I can.”
Two seats on Dover’s City Council were also contested in Tuesday’s election. Incumbent Julia Pillsbury held her seat, while former councilman and former Kent County Sheriff Brian Lewis won a seat vacated by former councilman Ralph Taylor earlier this year.
