The 62 District Strategy: A Look at the 2024 Races

It’s time to check in on how the 2024 primary and general election ballots are shaping up. See the chart below for the full list of offices and races. Please be advised that I list every incumbent as running for reelection unless they have stated that they are definitely not running for reelection.

U.S. Senator — It looks like U.S. Represenative Lisa Blunt Rochester is avoiding a primary race for this seat, but she seems to have garned a surprising competitor in the general election. Former Democratic State Senator Dr. Michael Katz, who I believe represented the same basic district that Senator Laura Sturgeon does now (with several boundry changes after the 2010 and 2020 census), has filed to run for the U.S. Senate on the IPOD line (Independent Party of Delaware). He only served one term in the State Senate, from 2008 to 2012. He beat Republican Raymond Clatworthy by 1 point and then lost to Greg Lavelle by 1 point in 2012. The last I heard of him, he had fallen off a ski lift in New Hampshire and was injured pretty badly.

RD2 — It looks like James Taylor will primary Representative Stephanie Bolden again.

RD3 – Branden Fletcher is running to fill the seat that Sherry Dorsey Walker is vacating to run for Lt. Governor.   He was involved in the campaign of Shane Darby, who challenged State Representative Nnamdi Chukwuocha in 2022 and almost pulled off the upset. The issues important to him are afforable housing and food security.

RD14 – Marty Rendon is running to replace former Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, who is retiring. Rendon is a commissioner on the Delaware Human and Civil Rights Commission and has been the chair of the commissions’s legislative committee for four years. Prior to that, he ran congressional relations for UNICEF in Washington, DC for 25 years. He has also worked as the Staff Direction on the House Select Committee on Hunger.

RD21 – Michael Smith, not to be confused with the Republican Representative Michael Smith representing the neighboring RD22, is running against 2022 Nominee Frank Burns for the right to take Republican Representative Mike Ramone.

RD22 – Monica Beard is taking on the aforesaid Republican version of Michael Smith. She is the policy coordinator for the Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence.  She serves on the boards of the Delaware Alliance Against Sexual Violence, the First State Abortion Fund, Friends of CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocate), and the New York Alliance Against Sexual Assault. 

RD29 – Monica Shockley Porter has filed to run in a primary against Democratic Representative Bill Bush. She is the Public Relations Specialist for the Capital School District.  She is the Advocacy Chair for the Fund For Women, Treasurer for Network Delaware, Recording Secretary for the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, and a board member of the Delaware Local Journalism Initiative. 

RD34 – Democrat Tracey Miller has filed to challenge Republican Representative Lyndon Yearick. Ms. Miller is the Director Of Marketing And Engagement for the Dedicated To Women Health Clinic in Dover. 

RD37 – I keep hearing that Ruth Briggs King has moved out of this district and that she will be forced to not run for reelection and instead that she will challenge Senator Brian Pettyjohn in a primary in 2026, when his seat is next up for election. But there is nothing official on that. So I am keeping her name in the column for now until we hear something official.

RD41 — Republican Richard Collins has garnered a Democratic challenger, Tom Brett. Mr. Brett is the VP of Operations at Franchise Management Services.

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