http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/poli ... /95372274/
A high-stakes special election early next year will decide whether Republicans can end more than 40 years of Democrats' control over the state Senate.
The battleground is the 10th Senate district, which stretches across Middletown and Glasgow up to near Newark.
Sen. Bethany Hall-Long is vacating that seat after winning the race for lieutenant governor. That gives the GOP another shot at ending Democrats' stranglehold on state government after falling one seat short in the November elections.
Republicans have placed their hopes on the shoulders of John Marino, a realtor and retired police officer. Democrats have not named their nominee. The party set an informational meeting for Wednesday and will pick its candidate on Jan. 3.
The fight comes as the Republican Party increasingly dominates state-level politics on top of taking the White House and both chambers of Congress in November.
Delaware is one of 12 states where Democrats control both chambers of the Legislature. Republicans hold 30, while 7 are "split" between the parties and one, Nebraska, has only one, nonpartisan chamber.
Hall-Long will hold her seat for the first few days of the legislative session, which starts on Jan.10, but she must resign before she is inaugurated on Jan. 17.
After she does, leaders in the Senate have 10 days to call for a special election, which must be held 30 to 35 days later. That means a vote will likely happen in February.
The district leans blue, with 15,854 Democrats, 9,925 Republicans and 9,183 other voters registered.
Marino has proven competitive there: He got 49 percent of the vote against Hall-Long two years ago, falling short by only 267 votes. He also lost by two percentage points in a 2010 race for the House of Representatives.
John Marino is running for the 10th Senate seat.
Party leaders say those narrow losses prove he has support in the community.
"John Marino knows how to run a top-flight campaign and earn the votes of the people of the 10th District," state GOP chairman Charlie Copeland wrote in announcing the party's choice.
Marino appears to be running on a similar theme to the one that Republican Anthony Delcollo used to unseat Senate President Pro Tempore Patricia Blevins last month: Delaware needs new leadership after years of one-party rule by Democrats.
"Delaware deserves much better than we've been getting from our state government, and I have a plan to get the results Delawareans deserve," Marino said in the announcement.
Unlike regular elections, which have primary elections, party officials pick who runs during special elections.
https://www.facebook.com/MarinoForSenate/
A high-stakes special election early next year will decide whether Republicans can end more than 40 years of Democrats' control over the state Senate.
The battleground is the 10th Senate district, which stretches across Middletown and Glasgow up to near Newark.
Sen. Bethany Hall-Long is vacating that seat after winning the race for lieutenant governor. That gives the GOP another shot at ending Democrats' stranglehold on state government after falling one seat short in the November elections.
Republicans have placed their hopes on the shoulders of John Marino, a realtor and retired police officer. Democrats have not named their nominee. The party set an informational meeting for Wednesday and will pick its candidate on Jan. 3.
The fight comes as the Republican Party increasingly dominates state-level politics on top of taking the White House and both chambers of Congress in November.
Delaware is one of 12 states where Democrats control both chambers of the Legislature. Republicans hold 30, while 7 are "split" between the parties and one, Nebraska, has only one, nonpartisan chamber.
Hall-Long will hold her seat for the first few days of the legislative session, which starts on Jan.10, but she must resign before she is inaugurated on Jan. 17.
After she does, leaders in the Senate have 10 days to call for a special election, which must be held 30 to 35 days later. That means a vote will likely happen in February.
The district leans blue, with 15,854 Democrats, 9,925 Republicans and 9,183 other voters registered.
Marino has proven competitive there: He got 49 percent of the vote against Hall-Long two years ago, falling short by only 267 votes. He also lost by two percentage points in a 2010 race for the House of Representatives.
John Marino is running for the 10th Senate seat.
Party leaders say those narrow losses prove he has support in the community.
"John Marino knows how to run a top-flight campaign and earn the votes of the people of the 10th District," state GOP chairman Charlie Copeland wrote in announcing the party's choice.
Marino appears to be running on a similar theme to the one that Republican Anthony Delcollo used to unseat Senate President Pro Tempore Patricia Blevins last month: Delaware needs new leadership after years of one-party rule by Democrats.
"Delaware deserves much better than we've been getting from our state government, and I have a plan to get the results Delawareans deserve," Marino said in the announcement.
Unlike regular elections, which have primary elections, party officials pick who runs during special elections.
https://www.facebook.com/MarinoForSenate/
“I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.” -Thomas Paine