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Democrats secure supermajority in state Senate with two flips

Campaigns for Spiros Mantzavinos and Kyle Evans Gay
Spiros Mantzavinos and Kyle Evans Gay

Democrats in New Castle County flipped two state Senate seats in extremely tight races.

 

Democrats now hold a supermajority in both the state House and Senate, further cementing their political powers in the next legislative session.

 

Spiros Mantzavinos beat out Republican incumbent Anthony Delcollo by just 540 votes in Senate District 7.

 

He says the biggest priority when he arrives in Dover will be Coronavirus relief.

 

“For me, it really is just focused on COVID because I think the issues that we’re facing right now, the immediate issues that we’re facing is an outcome of COVID," said Mantazinvos. "We need to make sure that we get healthy.”

 

Mantazinvos also joins another Democrat, Kyle Evans Gay, in turning a seat blue -defeating Senate Minority Whip Cathy Clouitier in Senate District 5.

 

She says the biggest priority next year is relief for people in her district suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

“We are going to do as much as we can and we will be making a lot of progress on the issues of the day," said Gay. "But first and foremost, we have to help our families and help our businesses and help our workers recover from this virus and get back to work safely.”

 

Gay says there are a lot of small business owners in her district, and they’ve been struggling to survive during the pandemic.

 

They’ll be joined by two other fresh faces in the State Senate. Sarah McBride, the first transgender state senator in the nation and Marie Pinkney, a newcomer to state politics.

Roman Battaglia grew up in Portland, Ore, and now reports for Delaware Public Media as a Report For America corps member. He focuses on politics, elections and legislation activity at the local, county and state levels.
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