Delaware’s House District 9, part of the Middletown-Odessa-Townsend area, has been in Republican hands for the past ten years. But, the margins have been shrinking, and Democrats are eyeing the seat as a possible pickup. Making them even more bullish on the prospect is the retirement this year of long-time incumbent Republican Kevin Hensley.
Changing demographics and an open seat sparked a three-way primary for the Democratic nomination, between Ayanna Khan-Flowers, Gemma Lowery, and Michelle Wall.
Khan-Flowers is the founder, President, and CEO of the Delaware Black Chamber of Commerce. She says she was moved to run after spending significant time in Dover this year lobbying state lawmakers.
“I was down there a lot advocating on bills that you would think would be common sense to not allow certain harmful bills to pass because it will hurt smaller minority contractors as well as our community,” said Khan-Flowers.
She specifically points to a bill, which didn’t pass during this year’s session, which would require a project labor agreement for most new school construction. Khan-Flowers says that measure would be disastrous for many of the business owners she represents.
“It was going to shoot up unemployment, which is here in the state of Delaware, our unemployment is already higher than the national average,” she said.
Meanwhile, Gemma Lowery, a former executive with ChristianaCare points to her background and a problem-solving approach.
“Over the years, it's become kind of, for me, just the fabric of who I am.” said Lowery. “If I see something broken, I want to fix it, or I want to know the why. If there's a way I can help, I want to help. It doesn't matter what the rules are, because I don't really know what they are half the time. It's just like there's somebody that's hurting. How can I figure out a way to get them what they need?”
Michelle Wall points to her decade of experience as a member of the Appoquinimink Board of Education.
“I'm running because I see it as a natural progression of service from spending 10 years serving on the Appoquinimink School Board. Having raised my kids here, I think it's important to bring experience to Dover that's focused on solving problems,” said Wall.
Despite different backgrounds - in business, health care, and education policymaking - the three candidates generally agree on most of the issues. For example, all three are at least a little bit skeptical of the new funding formula for public education. Wall notes the struggles with growth faced by Appoquinimink while she was on the school board.
“So as we look at the next step of the funding formula, I have asked a lot of folks and my continual question is, does it take into consideration growth? During my tenure on the Appoquinimink School Board, I often said that a lot of the funding mechanisms that are set up for education don't work to the advantage of the Appoquinimink School District because it doesn't consider growth,” she said.
Khan-Flowers, meanwhile, wants to advocate for better compensation for teachers and other school staff.
“Just door knocking and speaking to folks that are working in cafeteria services or transportation services for our students, they're not getting a lot,” said Khan-Flowers. “They got, I think, a 2 or 3% increase this year - it’s not enough. And for some of these families, that's their only income.”
Lowery expressed some doubts about the new funding formula, given her view of the state’s recent history when it comes to making policy.
“I'm cautiously optimistic because I'm an optimist. I'll say that. But I'm also very much a realist. I've been in Delaware almost my whole life. I've seen us try different things and it's gotten worse.” said Lowery. “I don't see that from my upbringing to now that we've made huge progress in the way that we're funding, the way that we're organizing, and the way that our school system is set up.”
When it comes to making health care more affordable, Lowery draws on her experience but she has a deep dissatisfaction with the status quo.
“I know people are like, ‘Just charge less.’ That isn't it. In this country, we've allowed our healthcare system to be so convoluted that there is way too much control by payers, by systems that dictate what care you can and can't have, and what the fees are attached to that. And then our nonprofit hospitals also have this formula for how charges are applied,” said Lowery. “I think, honestly, and people will not love this answer, but I really, really wish - and we can't - we could throw it all out and start over.”
Instead, she suggests more oversight for insurers and hospitals as one approach. Wall stresses the need for partnerships and preventative care as priorities.
“I think you need to focus on preventative care and community partnerships when it comes to healthcare. I think we need to do some short-term solutions and some long-term solutions,” said Wall. “In a lot of these issues, I feel like Delaware is a small state. We kind of could function like a big city. Where can we look to that's doing it well?”
Khan-Flowers notes that on any given day the state’s hospitals are filled to capacity.
“We need to build more - another hospital at least, I think, because we have a strain currently on the current system. And I've seen it, just people having to sit there for hours and hours, a whole day before they can be seen,” she said.
The candidates also have thoughts on data centers, a topic that has been much in the news in recent months. Khan-Flowers says data centers need to bring their own energy to the table instead of burdening communities. She also questions claims of large job creation.
"When we look at the job creation, I'm all for job creation and bettering our workforce here in the state of Delaware,” she said. “But when we look at the data and break it down, how many jobs are we actually creating and how much are we hurting the residents of our community?”
Wall also has concerns about the ability of the state to support large data centers. She says the state should play a role in guiding their development along with local governments, which usually control things like zoning and land use.
“The conversations need to occur together between the county and the state. I don't think that Delaware necessarily has the resources to support some of the data centers that have been being suggested,” said Wall.
Lowery also sees a need for some state-level control.
“There needs to be some sense of state oversight because what I wouldn't want to see is New Castle County is doing one thing with it and then Kent and Sussex are doing something different with it because the impact is on the whole state, tying into some overarching state regulation guideline infrastructure so that one area can't actually impact really negatively another one,” she said.
Another major issue across the state is the push for more affordable housing. On this issue, Wall says she thinks that state and local governments sometimes operate in silos, and wants to create better communication between state and local lawmakers.
“I think there's always more to be done. What specifically that is, it would have to be a collaborative effort, I think, between your state representatives and your county council and even your school districts. You have to pull people together when you're making those decisions,” said Wall.
Khan-Flowers highlights the effect of skyrocketing housing costs on seniors specifically and wants to see more pressure on developers.
“We definitely need to address affordable housing and affordable housing for our seniors and stop putting a lot of the burden back onto the residents, but seeing how these developers that are putting up these homes can absorb some of these costs that are putting back as a burden onto the residents,” said Khan-Flowers.
Lowery also favors requiring more from developers.
“I think we could be much more prescribed. There's enough to go around. There is money to be made. We don't need to, I'm gonna say it, but we don't need to be soft on these negotiations,” said Lowery
The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Jamar Money in the November general election.
