Democrat Alonna Berry becomes Delaware's newest member of the General Assembly, winning the House District 20 special election.
She defeated her sole opponent Republican Nikki Miller by just 121 votes to represent the Milton area. The unofficial results were announced late Tuesday night after polls closed at 8 p.m.
Berry currently serves as the executive director of the Delaware Center for Justice and previously worked in the Carney administration as the director of community and family services and as senior policy advisor for health, equity, and education.
Her win maintains Democrat's three-fifths majority in the State House, but the party is still shy of a supermajority in the chamber. Democrats hold a supermajority in the State Senate.
This is Miller’s second time failing to garner enough support for the House seat — she lost to former State Rep. Stell Parker Selby by just under 250 votes in November.
The House District 20 seat was left vacant following the resignation of Parker Selby in June. She decided to leave office at the end of the legislative session to continue recovering from a stroke she suffered in December.
Parker Selby's absence during the length of this year’s legislative session sparked concern from some constituents and lawmakers over a lack of representation in the state legislature. Those concerns are top of mind for Berry as she prepares to be sworn in.
“I'm one of those constituents that lived in this district, and it matters to me that we have a voice, and it matters to me that we're able to have a vote on the floor. And so I raised my hand, and I signed up to do that on behalf of every single voter in this district, and that's what I plan to do," she said following her win Tuesday night.
Berry intends to hit the ground running, noting following the certification of the results, she intends to be sworn in and participate in the legislature’s special session scheduled for August 12.
Lawmakers plan to return to Dover to pass legislation to provide relief to taxpayers following recent countywide reassessments and some decisions by school districts to raise taxes.
“'m actually really excited on day one, after I get sworn in, to be able to be a part of those conversations on behalf of the state, and on behalf of this district, because I think it's issues like those that really matter to this community and really matter to folks' pockets and their livelihood moving forward," she said.
In general, Berry says improving the state's public education system, making strategic infrastructure plans for a growing Sussex County and increasing access to affordable healthcare will be her guiding principles during her legislative tenure.
9,257 votes were cast in total, which represents a 40% turnout rate for the district — the highest voter turnout rate for a special election in state history.
According to Delaware Department of Elections’ records, the highest prior voter turnout for a special election was in the 2017 Senate District 10 special election with a voter turnout of 35.21%.
Early voting wrapped up on August 3 and after just under two weeks of early voting, 6,691 ballots were cast — at the time, a 29.15% turnout rate for the district.
More early votes were cast for Miller with 3,077 votes compared to Berry's 2,940 votes.
The election results are expected to be certified in the coming days.
