When Democrat Annie Norman retired this year from her role as State Librarian and Director of the Delaware Division of Libraries, the timing felt right for her to pursue a different kind of opportunity, one she’d been thinking about for over 10 years. She said, “I'm really proud of what I accomplished as state librarian, and I have confidence that I could be a good legislator.”
The timing and her 24 year tenure as state librarian aside, another factor that propelled her to run was watching the impact of how the Trump administration operates.
“Things seems to be getting worse, not better…I was a state librarian for 24 years. I was a bureaucrat for 40 years. So I'm recovering from 40 years of bureaucracy. And it can just suck the life out of you. Now, I'm not directing this at any individual because I've worked for, I believe it's six administrations, and it's just the nature of bureaucracy. But it does not have to be that way. And I want to make that better. And so legislators from the outside, they can't necessarily see what's happening on the inside. But I'm familiar with that,” she said.
While filling out surveys from special interest groups, she was answering questions about legislating various state agencies but she would rather pose the question, “What is preventing you from getting this done? It's just that there's a lot of need and a lot of demand. And so what happens is nothing ever gets fully fixed…And even with libraries, as I say, I'm proud of what we've accomplished, but look how long it took. Things shouldn't take that long to fix. And it holds everybody back. It holds back Delawareans and their ability to thrive.”
While Norman is campaigning in part on changes to create more efficiency and effectiveness, her opponent is running in part on the consistency he represents.
Incumbent Republican State Rep. Lyndon Yearick has been District 34’s representative for at least as long as Norman has been thinking about running. He was first elected in 2014 when the district had begun leaning increasingly Democratic. And the last time he was challenged, Independents had far outpaced Republicans in the district which had increased the voter registration edge to almost 2100. Just like in 2024, Yearick attributes his electoral success as a reason to continue in Dover.
“I think I've shown that in a very diverse district, the district has a voter registration advantage of Democrats by almost 10 points, might be higher than that. And I've been successful in earning individual support, regardless of the party for those elections. And I think that just reaffirms my support and my desire to continue to serve the individuals in the district," he said.
Other than his legislative experience, Yearick feels his professional background working at United Way of Delaware and across other industries makes him the most qualified candidate.
“And I think I've demonstrated that over the years, offering solutions to cut taxes, to lower energy bills, to try to address our rising healthcare costs, to be a member of the Delaware Prosperity Partnership since its inauguration, understanding economic development and what it takes to attract, keep, and help existing organizations grow in Delaware," he said.
Both candidates want to address affordability. Yearick wants to revisit legislation that would fall under this umbrella; legislation he had previously worked on but wasn’t able to get to the House floor for a full vote. One piece is an earned income tax credit.
“I mean, the bottom line is these are effective measures to address putting more money into hardworking Delaware's pockets. The earned income tax credit is a means tested tax credit that supports the working poor. It's based upon income…We expanded it…seven, eight years ago, I worked with then Representative Paul Baumbach where we were co-primes on the bill to get it up to 6%. My legislation would take it to 10% fully refundable,” Yearick said.
The other is a childcare independent tax credit.
Yearick said, “For the childcare issue, the rising cost of childcare, we can look at it different ways. One, we have to try to encourage increasing the supply. However, we also have to look at the immediate needs for individuals that the childcare independent tax credit can give them more money back into their pockets to help offset the high cost of childcare.”
Norman agrees affordability is a top priority and would seek to understand and address immediate needs.
“Well, of course, the first thing is affordability and looking and seeing what can happen to address some of those needs and learning more from my neighbors what the particular issues are for them,” she said.
But she also calls for developing an official statewide strategic plan which she wants to help build, similar to the “Livable Delaware” plan under former Gov. Ruth Ann Minner’s administration.
“Whether it's this domain or any domain, we need to keep our eye on innovations and what are the creative things that are happening and the solutions and constantly keep abreast of that. And so I don't think there might be one answer and that's it," she said.
Norman notes one thing district residents express frustration with is politicians and how government functions, which she sees as a big-picture issue tied to the individual priorities like affordability.
“So addressing their needs first, but I think there's other things that I can do along this continuous improvement line which is elevating the work of Delaware Quality Partnership and GEAR, using some library tools to organize information so that we can make the work that the legislature is doing more transparent and have more public involvement in that," she said.
Housing is another issue tied to affordability and Norman has some ideas for that. One is to streamline permitting processes, so developers are incentivized to build more affordable housing geared towards low-income and middle-income Delawareans. Another is looking into building additions on existing homes to increase available housing. And the third is a concept of rental equity which Norman believes could help lower-income people who may struggle with both housing-availability and affordability.
Norman said, “And that's why renting is becoming more of a thing now than it used to be. And that's why it's so exciting to hear about this, you know, rental equity, because that might be a way for people with less money to get value.(:20) So there's lots of solutions, but I just think we need to put them all together and look at it holistically.”
Yearick on the other hand has legislation he’s been working on which he sees as a solution to housing needs.
He said, “And to address the affordability housing issue, I offered up realty transfer tax cut legislation that was very targeted that, for example, if you purchase a home under $350,000, the state would forego their piece of the transfer tax. And it's between 350 and 500 incrementally over the next four years, we'd roll back 25 basis points.”
Another issue tied to affordability is energy — its usage and generation in Delaware. Both candidates see the need for Delaware to become more self-reliant. Yearick hasn’t changed his position on this and wants the state to ramp up power-generation through natural gas and small modular nuclear reactors. Norman on the other hand wants to explore alternatives.
“I like the wind farms, but I understand how people, like at the beach, don't want them because it affects their view. But then recently I had seen, and I don't know if it was 60 Minutes or some show like that. Anyway, they have this big device that kind of bobs in the ocean, just kind of like a big buoy, but it bobs around and it, you know, it generates energy, lots of energy. And so, you know, I'm thinking, well, that would solve the view problem, but I don't know what other downsides are or how ready it is," she said.
And tied to this are data centers which Norman believes have an economic and environmental cost. She says she wants to strike the balance between addressing both concerns but would defer to State Senator Stephanie Hansen’s expertise on the matter from a legislative standpoint, “So I think starting with some of these legislators that have been working on some of these issues instead of reinventing the wheel, I don't intend to do that, see where they are and what needs to happen next."
Yearick does not see data centers as an energy-related concern. He sees them as an economic benefit and is open to having them if they meet certain standards like having their own electricity source.
“I have in front of me other studies that absolutely disagree with what you cited based upon the implementation of data centers and what it's done to electricity bills specifically around Northern Virginia as well as in California. But specifically, what I would do, just like any other manufacturing facility that would come into the state, the county and or municipality, if they are able to meet the zoning requirements, they are able to demonstrate through their relationship with DNREC, DELDOT, that they are able to come in and meet those requirements. They should have every option and every ability," he said.
He also doesn’t believe data centers are an environmental concern.
“In regard to the environmental impact, in regard to the utilization of water, they are no more adverse to the environment in regard to their water utilization. For the fact of the matter, most of the time they can recycle and regenerate used water, they're not taking away our drinking water. So their ability to reutilize water that is non drinkable is something that is expected of them today as well," Yearick said.
However, there is little evidence about the cooling technology used in hyperscale and mega data centers that indicates water is being recycled or reused. Any of those data centers using liquid cooling rely on water being evaporated and needing to be replenished with freshwater.
Both Google and Microsoft’s self-reported accounts from 2023 and 2024 show those companies utilized billions of gallons of drinking water — each — to cool their data centers. And so far it’s unclear if those numbers are fully reported amounts.
Currently there are no data center proposals in Delaware and Yearick does not foresee any coming to the First State any time soon. But if any were brought to this district he says, “If they do again, it's gonna be a local control issue. They're gonna have to meet the criteria of what the county sets out, and what the…if it's in a town.”
Another big issue is education. Yearick wants to continue focusing on legislation to remove the unit-count system, increase spending-flexibility for school districts and reduce standardized tests; more specifically eliminate the SAT as a state assessment for high school juniors.
“The SAT is a college assessment test to gauge my college admission standards, whether I'm a student in Delaware or Florida or South Dakota. It is not meant to be an assessment to evaluate students on their language arts, their math, critical thinking skills," he said.
Norman wants to focus on increasing infrastructure for school libraries which she believes would help mitigate the state’s literacy crisis and reduce the burden on parents.
She said, “And because school libraries are in crisis, Delaware is not a school library friendly state. I think if we had had quality school libraries, the librarians might have picked it up. Instead of now we have generations that have been impacted by these, you know, poor, ineffective approaches to teaching literacy.”
And on other education-related issues, she wants to learn from State Senator Laura Sturgeon.
With Election Day less than two weeks away and early voting underway, both candidates are making their final pitch to voters.
Yearick is confident his track record speaks for itself, “I would remind them that over the last 12 years, it's been a privilege to serve as a representative. We're held accountable every two years for our results, what we do, what we don't do. Being successful six times in that, I think it's a testament to our constituent work, my accessibility, My work outside of Legislative Hall with my own town halls, attendance in HOA meetings, other events that we coordinate, the accessibility that I have through our schools. I have a voting record that people can obviously judge me on, right, wrong, or indifferent. So I think the best answer to that is that I'm known, I'm trusted, I'm respected. I cross party lines. I have a significant number of Democrats and independents who feel the value in what I do and have continued. And I think they will continue to support me and vote for me in 2026," he said.
Norman says she can be an agent of change in Dover, “I'm running to make government more efficient, effective and affordable, and Delaware succeeds when every person can learn, contribute and thrive. I think as a librarian, I have loved the work which is about helping every individual to find their uniqueness and to achieve their full potential. And I think that's important for equal justice and for everyone.”
