Delaware has one of the smallest state legislatures in the nation, which gives each legislative seat an outsized significance. With the state’s legislature and governorship firmly under Democratic control for 20 years, voters will decide this year whether to give Democrats a new supermajority power. While there are 77 seats up for grabs in federal, state and county races in Tuesday’s general election, there are a handful of races that will draw outsized attention due to their close electorate, campaign spending or controversial candidates.
Democrats are aiming to protect their incumbents and flip at least one Republican seat in the state House of Representatives, which would give them a two-thirds supermajority that would allow them to amend the state Constitution without bipartisan support. That fact has become a cause for Delaware Republicans as they look to protect their seats and find at least one flip of their own.
Of the 11 State Senate races on ballots this year, there is really just one race that pundits in both parties are watching: District 15, which hugs the Maryland border from Cheswold to Harrington in Kent County. That seat is open this year following the retirement of longtime Republican Sen. Dave Lawson, and the race to succeed him in the 21-member chamber has become the most expensive local race of the year. Two newcomers, Democrat Nisha Lodhavia and Republican Emily Thompson, have raised or are supported by more than $200,000 in the campaign.
The district’s voter registration split favors Republicans by more than 1,300 voters, and voters there overwhelmingly chose President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, but Democrats view the district as the only real potentially flippable Senate seat, and Lodhavia holds a roughly 2-1 fundraising advantage over Thompson in the race. Both Lodhavia and Thompson said affordability, from housing costs to electricity bills and rising business costs, is the No. 1 issue they hear about from voters on the campaign trail.
But beyond just hearing those concerns, each has tried to convince voters that they are better equipped to bring solutions. Lodhavia pointed to her decades of community service experience – she currently serves on the University of Delaware Board of Trustees – as proof that she is a seasoned solver of complex problems. A self-described moderate, Lodhavia said she would not be afraid to reach across the aisle to search for bipartisanship. The problems facing the 15th District affect people across party affiliation, so the solutions should also come from a place of common ground, she said.
When it comes to addressing affordability concerns, Thompson homed in on electricity costs, burdens on the district’s farmers and helping small businesses. She said the state should focus on generating its own energy in order to bring down importing costs. To help out farmers plagued by rising operating costs, Thompson said she would support creating tax exemptions for certain agricultural structures. She also said she would oppose any fee increases proposed by the Department of Corporations in order ease the burden on small businesses.
Either Democrat Ayanna Khan-Flowers or Republican Jamar Money will bring new representation to the Middletown-Odessa-Townsend corridor after years of representation by Rep. Kevin Hensley.
