Races to Watch: Incumbent Republican Lyndon Yearick faces Democratic challenger Tracey Miller in 34th House District

The 34th House District has had the same Republican representative for a decade.

Lyndon Yearick is the current state representative. This November, the House Minority Whip faces new Democratic challenger Tracey Miller in the general election.

Yearick is the latest in a long line of Republicans to hold this seat, dating back over 30 years. At the same time, the district is increasingly taking on a Democratic flavor.

When Yearick was first elected in 2014, Democrats held a 900 voter registration edge. That’s grown to nearly 21 hundred with Independents now outpacing Republicans in the district. And since Yearick entered office, Kent County has gone for the Democratic nominee for president in each election except 2016.

Overcoming that Democratic edge is part of Yearick’s argument for returning to Legislative Hall, selling himself as a buffer against “one-party rule” in the state.

“Most governments are going to give and take a little bit better when there's some sort of balance,” Yearick said. “We can look at a variety of benchmarks and see how one-party rule has worked within this state. And for anybody who wants to double down and say we need to do more of what we've been doing, expecting any improvements, I don't think that's going to happen.”

But Miller said if Delawareans want more Democrats, she’s running to give residents in the 34th House District the opportunity to flip the seat.

“There's a whole bunch of folks in the 34th that don't feel like they've ever been heard," Miller said. "I hope that I can be that person that represents everyone and not just the few, and that includes small businesses.”

Miller currently works for Forward Journey, a nonprofit day program for adults who are disabled. She’s the director of development and finds funding for the organization’s programming.

Yearick works as a regional consultant for JLK Political Strategies.

Both candidates have plenty to say about education with Yearick calling for an overhaul of some current practices, along with some simpler reforms.

“We need to revamp our standardized testing. We need to provide more spending flexibility back to the districts," Yearick said. "We need to get rid of the unit count system. One of five or six states that still fund public education that way, it’s ridiculous."

Miller agrees it’s time to move on from the unit-based system.

“I think it's just standard knowledge of what's happening in our school systems," Miller said. "It's not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue, it's a state issue. So I'm glad to hear that he is talking about the unit-based system, too.”

Miller said changes to the funding system need to be made with equity in mind.

“When we talk about education, folks like to talk about everything being equal," Miller said. "Well, with education, it can't be equal because when you give equal amounts of money to each school district, that actually puts more money into the affluent school district's pocket and less money into the school districts who are struggling.”

Miller and Yearick also discuss the workforce and economy in their platforms, but they tackle the issues from different angles.

Yearick focuses on job creation, hoping to streamline things like permitting and approval processes, which he says hold up small businesses and drive up costs.

Yearick believes in giving individuals and entities more flexibility and fewer regulatory restrictions to promote private sector growth.

“Job creation is about the wealth that can be created for that small business, where still two-thirds of all the jobs here in the state employ 10 people or less,” Yearick said. “So that is my focus, job creation, versus just saying economic development.”

Miller lists affordable workforce housing as a key issue that greatly affects Kent County. She references State Sen. Russ Huxtable’s work on the issue, which included a seven-bill legislative package introduced in March, as a step in the right direction

Six of Huxtable’s bills were signed into law, and Yearick voted for all of them.

Miller and Yearick acknowledge health care and accessibility to health care as major issues for Delawareans. Yearick supported legislation that offered loan forgiveness to primary care providers in Delaware-based residency programs.

“It's quite disappointing that almost a third of all Delawareans [are] on Medicaid; that has not moved the mark in years. So what can we do differently?... We need to look at non-state entities that participate with our health insurance plan to get a fantastic opportunity,” Yearick said.

This year, Delaware lawmakers passed a bill requiring health insurance providers to cover abortions, barring religious entities that may be excluded.

Yearick voted against the bill, which was signed into law by the governor in September.

Miller agrees that there’s a problem with health care accessibility in the state and suggests public and private partnerships.

She says, like Yearick, that there aren’t enough providers in Kent County.

“Folks, especially folks in state government and local government, don't want to use the word crisis because it scares people, and I understand that… but what we have is, it's kind of a tiered problem," Miller said. "You cannot get people to work here if you're not willing to pay them."

Both candidates are running on public safety as well.

“Whether it be with the fire departments, volunteer fire departments, or our law enforcement presence, public safety is the highest priority that any government should take,” Yearick said.

On his campaign’s website, Yearick ties supporting the Second Amendment to public safety.

He said he introduced legislation a few years ago that would increase penalties for committing a violent crime using a firearm. Had it passed, first-time offense penalties would go from three to five years, and second offenses would go from five to 10 years.

“We need to hold them accountable and leave the majority of individuals who exercise their right with every legal capacity to do so; to have them to be able to protect their family, like go hunting, shooting or collecting," Yearick said. "That's their right, and they deserve to have that right."

Miller says she has a personal tie to public safety.

“I am the daughter of a police officer," Miller said. "So, public safety is super important to me, and I hear it when I knock [on] doors.”

She said she wants to help put more money toward community resource officers to further engage with people and see what the community wants out of their public servants.

Miller also connects public safety to the environment. She said the effects of climate change are here, and they call for responses like raising the roads in eastern Kent County to respond to flooding in the area.

Milles also stresses inclusion and diversity, and says the state has to be better.

“We have to be better when it comes to students, we have to be better when it comes to women, we have to be better when it comes to Black and brown folks," Miller said. "It's not a static thing. It moves, it flows, and we have to be in that discussion at all times."

In the campaign’s final push, Yearick is asking for another chance to work for the 34th District.

“It's been a privilege over these last 10 years to serve and represent the individuals in the 34th district here in central Kent County,” Yearick said. “I think I serve the individuals inside Legislative Hall and outside Legislative Hall, and that shows every two years with their commitment and their belief in me and their support on election day.”

Miller is endorsed by the Delaware State Education Association, Planned Parenthood, several unions and the Delaware Democratic Party.

She said she’s trying to have people get to know who she is and what she stands for in order to unseat a long-time incumbent who has never received less than 57 percent of the vote in any race.

“He's an entrenched Republican that's been at the helm of this district for over 10 years, and this district has been in Republican hands for well over 20 years," Miller said. "So, it's a heavy lift for me and I respect that. So, I knew I had a lot of work to do to make sure that happened. So, I've worked really hard."

It’s now up to voters to decide if the 34th House District remains a GOP stronghold or the latest seat to flip blue in the General Assembly.