Former State Rep. Ruth Briggs King announces her candidacy for lieutenant governor with an endorsement from the Delaware Republican Party.
The campaign launch comes just six months after announcing her resignation from the General Assembly due to moving out of her district.
She says she’s received messages of being missed from both sides of the aisle following her 14-year tenure as a member of the Delaware House of Representatives serving the Georgetown/Millsboro area and sees the lieutenant governorship as way to reenter the political arena.
The opportunity to run for lieutenant governor came as a pleasant surprise Briggs King explains, noting she was nominated for the position Saturday at the Delaware Republican Party’s state convention.
“When they nominated me from the floor, I was a little surprised, but I accepted. So, not the kind of process I’m used to when I decide, and I go out and I file a run for election. To have received the nomination from the party and the endorsement without actually already being a candidate was a very humbling experience," she said.
Briggs King says she will run with gubernatorial candidate and House Republican Leader Mike Ramone, saying she identifies with his push to shift away from party-identified politics and focusing instead on policy and quality.
She believes her experience in the House will help build a strong foundation for her statewide campaign with a focus on economic strength, education and public safety, noting specifically what being on the budget writing Joint Finance Committee (JFC) taught her.
“JFC is a very small committee, and so you really have a chance to work across the aisle more than, you know, on a specific issue, more than you do on some specific legislation. What you do covers the whole state — that’s where you broaden out from your district.”
Although she has not officially filed yet, Briggs King is the only announced Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, while there are currently three Democratic candidates set to face off in the September primary election, including State Rep. Sherry Dorsey Walker (D-Wilmington), State Sen. Kyle Evans Gay (D-Talleyville) and Delaware Democratic Party 2nd Vice Chair Debbie Harrington.
