Former DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara is looking to bring a Progressive view to the governor’s office.
O’Mara views the upcoming election as change versus more of the same.
While he’s complimentary of Gov. John Carney and his primary opponents Bethany Hall-Long and Matt Meyer – calling them friends – he feels the state has not matched some of the progressive policy outcomes seen in other states.
He points to Delaware having high rates of childhood poverty and incarceration, and one of the lowest rates of employment.
O’Mara says the state should be doing better with Democrats holding majorities in the General Assembly and controlling other state offices.
"We just become complacent, and I just think there's kind of these big questions about how do we support families that are struggling right now. We have some of the highest health care cost and the highest affordable housing costs and the highest childcare costs in the country,” said O’Mara. “We don't have universal Pre-K we haven't even been talking about it for 20 years, and I think there's just this kind of go along to get along at some point they're just like we're failing our citizens in a way that shouldn't be the case when you have this kind of unified Democratic control with these huge majorities."
O’Mara adds he’s in favor of a shakeup to the “Delaware Way.”
He sees education as the most important issues in the election.
O’Mara argues you can’t have a strong state without strong public schools, adding he believes over the last 40 years it’s been almost impossible for some public schools to succeed.
He feels decisions made after the desegregation order and the implementation of choice made things worse for many schools and students.
O’Mara says that states that invest in a more equitable education funding see improvements in performance and backs a recent independent report that called for a substantial increase in funding.
"We're going to need an additional half a billion to a billion dollars invested in our schools in a more equitable way. I don't think it has to be in place of the current form. I think it can be on top of it because we still want to have that predictability from the unit count to be able to make sure we can support all the kind of existing infrastructure for students," said O’Mara.
O’Mara adds supporting kids by making sure they’re fed and their health and mental health needs are met are areas Delaware can make a bigger difference.
The Democratic primary is Sept. 10th.
