Poinbank:Democratic primary for governor highlights Tuesday’s elections in Delaware

DOVER,Poinbank Del. (AP) — A Democratic gubernatorial contest pitting Delaware’s lieutenant governor against the chief executive of the state’s largest county is the marquee race in Tuesday’s primary elections.

Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long, who has held public office since winning a state House seat in 2002, is hoping to overcome a campaign finance scandal and succeed Democrat John Carney as governor.

Hall-Long has been endorsed by Carney and Delaware’s Democrat Party establishment. But the two-term lieutenant governor is facing a tough primary challenge from New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer. Former state environmental secretary Collin O’Mara also is seeking the Democratic nomination, but he has been overshadowed by the other two candidates.

Meyer has raised substantially more money than Hall-Long this year, and his current campaign balance is about seven times higher than hers.

Hall-Long reported raising about $582,000 this year, including roughly $52,200 in the three-week reporting period that ended Tuesday. She reported spending $1.18 million, including $182,000 in the three-week period.

Meyer has raised about $1 million this year, including about $200,000 in the past three weeks. He has spent about $2.1 million, including roughly $1.2 million in the three-week sprint toward Tuesday’s primary.

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On the Republican side, House Minority Leader Michael Ramone is favored to win a three-way GOP primary for governor.

Meanwhile, Carney, who is prohibited by law from seeking a third term as governor, has taken a step down on the political ladder and is eyeing the Democratic nomination for mayor of Wilmington, Delaware’s largest city. His opponent is former Wilmington city treasurer Velda Jones-Potter, who was also appointed to a two-year stint as state treasurer after then-treasurer Jack Markell defeated Carney in a 2008 primary and was elected governor.

As of Friday, more than 24,000 Delawareans, including more than 17,500 Democrats, had already cast their votes in the primary, either by absentee ballot or in-person early voting at designated sites in each county.

Other races of note on Tuesday include three-way Democratic primaries to succeed Hall-Long as lieutenant governor and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester as Delaware’s lone representative in the U.S. House. Rochester is seeking the U.S. Senate seat currently held by fellow Democrat Tom Carper, who endorsed her in announcing his retirement last year.

Elsewhere, former state auditor Kathleen McGuiness is in a three-way Democratic primary for a state House seat held by retiring former speaker Pete Schwartzkopf. Schwartzkopf, a longtime McGuiness ally, has endorsed her to succeed him in representing the Rehoboth Beach area.

McGuiness was convicted in 2022 on misdemeanor charges of conflict of interest, official misconduct and noncompliance with state procurement rules. A jury acquitted her on felony charges of theft and witness intimidation.

After the trial, the judge threw out the procurement conviction. Delaware’s Supreme Court later vacated the official misconduct conviction but upheld the conflict-of-interest verdict, which involved the hiring of McGuiness’ daughter as a part-time employee in the auditor’s office.

The trial marked the first time in Delaware history that a sitting statewide elected official was convicted on criminal charges, but the misdemeanor conviction does not prohibit McGuiness from holding public office.

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McGuiness was prosecuted by Attorney General Kathleen Jennings, a fellow Democrat. In contrast, Jennings has refused to prosecute Hall-Long for campaign finance violations that led several top staffers to abandon her campaign and prompted election officials to commission a forensic audit.

The audit found that during seven years as campaign treasurer for his wife, Dana Long wrote 112 checks to himself or cash, and one to his wife. The checks totaled just under $300,000 and should have been reported as campaign expenditures. Instead, 109 were not disclosed in finance reports, and the other four, payable to Dana Long, were reported as being written to someone else.

The audit also found that Hall-Long and her husband had received payments totaling $33,000 more than what she purportedly loaned her campaign over several years, while not disclosing those loans on campaign finance reports.

Hall-Long has disputed the audit’s findings and described the reporting violations as simple bookkeeping mistakes.