The Origins of Non-Partisan Delaware
Nine very different citizen candidates will be on the ballot this November.
Everyone will be able to vote for at least two, some will see three of their names in the voting booth on November 8th, and about 1,200 Delawareans in one overlapping Election District of Representative District 41 will have the opportunity to pull the lever for four of them.
They are the first wave of Non-Partisan Delaware.
This June, in a small Dover backyard, eating hot dogs while young children played and my Vizsla scavenged for what fell on the ground, a group of politically homeless centrists organized Non-Partisan Delaware as our State’s newest ballot-qualified political organization.
These former Libertarians, Democrats, and Republicans held different views on specific issues, but all fell into that fuzzy “Middle” or “Moderate” realm, drawn together by the bitter taste of partisanship.
Is there really still a “Middle” in American politics?
Professional politicians, the pundits, and your opinionated Uncle online don’t think so.
They’re wrong. On a wide array of issues, a majority of voters support common-sense policy positions that cross all party boundaries.
Abortion: 61% of Americans say that abortion should be legal in most or all cases.
Climate Change: 63% of Americans believe climate change is both real and a significant challenge to our world and nation; 65% believe the government is doing too little to combat it; larger majorities want carbon footprints reduced and increased automobile fuel efficiency.
Guns: 40% of American households contain firearms, but 44-52% think gun laws should be somewhat stricter. There remain significant disagreements over balancing the rights of responsible gun owners against the threat of terrorists and criminals.
LGBTQIA+: Acceptance of LGBTQIA+ and marriage equality stands at an all-time high of 62%, and while views on transgendered individuals are more complex, a majority also believes that gender identity issues should be taught in our public schools.
Police Reform: 89% of Americans favor police reform in the wake of shootings of Black Americans, though that breakdown is complex, with reform favored by 72% among blacks, 54% among Hispanics, and only 44% among whites.
Public Education: 63% of Americans believe that public education is critical to making our nation, their communities, and the economy stronger, and 53% are ready to invest in fixing our schools; younger voters favor both school choice and teachers’ unions.
Taxation: 63% of Americans think billionaires should be paying more taxes. 55% of Americans, however, don’t trust the Government to spend tax revenues efficiently, and 53% say that Government should prioritize spending on Social Security and health care.
There’s a consistent, if floating moderate consensus for reasonable changes and sound public policy management … if it can be expressed politically.
The problem -- both across America and in Delaware -- is that the opposing parties are often so busy being opposing parties that they’ve forgotten that we want them to be Non-Partisan more than bipartisan.
Too often “The Delaware Way” acts in the parties’ interests and not the public interest.
Example: Delaware has among the worst campaign finance laws in the nation, because -- when it comes to closed doors and smoke-filled rooms -- neither Ds nor Rs want the system made more transparent nor violators held accountable. They are particularly insistent that no third party should ever be granted the opportunity to break into their stranglehold on ballot access or funding.
Example: Delaware eviction rates are among the highest in the nation, and 20% of Delaware’s homeless have been evicted. Landlords or creditors bring attorneys to 86% of those court cases, but only 2% of the people facing eviction are represented. Once again, in 2022, the General Assembly failed to remedy this.
Example: Law enforcement reform, civilian police oversight, and qualified immunity reform, have all been stymied for years (in the state with the most extensive set of police protections from accountability in the nation) by the General Assembly’s informal, bipartisan “law enforcement caucus.”
Example: In Delaware we elect -- not appoint based on merit or experience -- Insurance Commissioners, Sheriffs, Registers of Wills, and Recorders of Deeds in partisan elections. A more sensible approach would be hiring highly qualified candidates rather than aspiring politicians who sometimes campaign on having no experience for the job.
Example: Nobody in the General Assembly will touch health insurance reform, even though what they’ve done since 2014 is turn over total control of the private health insurance market and much of Medicaid to one of the nation’s most predatory, unethical insurance companies. Why? Let’s just say you could follow the money.
Example; The same process applies to the slow destruction of Coastal Zone protections, the 97% of our rivers and streams that are heavily polluted, and encroachments by developers on the Nanticoke River.
“The Delaware Way” too often doesn’t produce the outcomes favorable for average residents, and is literally ignoring the needs of our most vulnerable on so many levels, while failing miserably at representing “The Middle.”
Final, HUGE Example: In 21 State Senate races, 12 incumbents of a major party are running unopposed by any candidate from their opposition. The same is true of the House of Representatives, where 22 of 41 incumbents are running unopposed by a candidate from the other major party. In other words, in a majority of Delaware’s legislative districts there is not even a functional two-party system anymore.
There are people willing to run, but the two parties have created a system of filing fees and fundraising requirements that are insurmountable barriers for most candidates who are not devoted party loyalists or financed by powerful special interests.
Non-Partisan Delaware believes the purpose of political parties is to OPEN access to motivated candidates, not restrict it.
We’re being transparent about our process and flexible in defining “moderate” or “middle” because we think the value of contested elections outweighs party-imposed political correctness.
It’s been less than three months since that backyard kick-off party in Dover, and those nine candidates are challenging not just their opponents, but the status quo dictating what can and can’t be talked about, who can and cannot run …
They won’t all agree with each other on everything, but on the issues, they will speak their minds -- not lapse into political doublespeak.
There’s a complete list of our candidates here -- and during August we will be posting links to their campaign pages. But here are some highlights --
● In three Representative Districts (5, 34, and 41) and one Senate District (21) our Non-Partisan candidates are the only real opposition to entrenched incumbents out of step with the majority positions outlined above …
● In all three counties, Non-Partisan Delaware is running individuals
for Sheriff effectively as protest candidates to point out that the position itself needs to be abolished
as a partisan, elected office.
Instead of funding themselves via the profits of evictions, our counties should
be figuring out ways to help tenants stay in their homes.
Others in the past have tried and failed to recover the American mainstream, because if there’s one thing that unites Democrats and Republicans, it’s their opposition to a multi-party political ecosystem that can fairly represent everyone. This is true even in a state where registered voters NOT affiliated with the Democratic or Republican parties comprise nearly a quarter of the electorate.
Still, somebody’s gotta step up, and we need YOUR participation. Follow us on Facebook and visit our Non-Partisan Delaware website often (be kind -- we are bootstrapping that at the same time we’re using every slim resource available to support our candidates). When you see posts, news, and interviews about our candidates, SHARE them far and wide.
This is our premiere year, and no matter the results, we will be back in 2023, fighting for the issues that matter and preparing to field twice as many candidates in 2024.
Elected, our senators and representatives will go to Dover to start the conversations nobody else seems interested in having, and to be a voting block for public policies that make sense.
We can do this -- TOGETHER.