After several years of election fervor, is was sad to see upon closing of the filing window, that no matter who wins the elections this November, things will be: “same as it ever was..”

“You’re crazy!” you just said?

Well, I certainly won’t deny it ( or admit it) but there is a lot of truth in what I said… The reason I said so is due to the large number of incumbents running unopposed….

Let’s take a look…. There are 21 districts in the Senate… Here are those incumbents with no opposition….

STATE SEN DIS 2 N DEMOCRATIC HENRY MARGARET ROSE Email:MRH9220@AOL.COM
197 CHRISTINA LANDING, CHRISTINA LANDING, WILMINGTON DE 19801 (302) 425-4148 03/19/2014 date filed

STATE SEN DIS 4 N REPUBLICAN LAVELLE GREGORY F Email:GREG@GREGLAVELLE.COM Url:GREGLAVELLE.COM
500 WHITBY DR, SHARPLEY, WILMINGTON DE 19803 (302) 478-6128 06/12/2014

STATE SEN DIS 16 K REPUBLICAN BONINI COLIN RMJ Email:COLINBONINI@OUTLOOK.COM
276 BANNING RD, CAM-WYO DE 19934 (302) 698-0960 05/12/2014

By state law, in the Senate, half the districts have elections on a regular election cycle, and the other half have elections on the off cycle… Ten positions are contestable this year and 11 positions will be contestable in 2 years… There are currently two primaries on the list, who afterwards, will face no opponent from another party. Even if someone gets appointed to run by the other party, that opponent just wastes someone’s money.. These elections are totally decided in the primary….

That would be these two…

STATE SEN DIS 3 N DEMOCRATIC DORSEY WALKER SHERRY Email:DORSEYFORSENATE@GMAIL.COM
Url:WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/SHERRYDORSEYWALKER 1714 CHESTNUT ST APT A, WILMINGTON DE 19805 (302) 777-3712 03/13/2014

STATE SEN DIS 3 N DEMOCRATIC MARSHALL ROBERT I
1702 SYCAMORE ST, WILMINGTON DE 19805 03/27/2014

=== and ===

STATE SEN DIS 11 N DEMOCRATIC TACKETT DAVID L Email:TACKETTSENATE2014@AOL.COM
Url:HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/DAVELTACK 312 E SILVER FOX RD, TIMBER FARMS, NEWARK DE 19702 (302) 709-3025 07/08/2014

STATE SEN DIS 11 N DEMOCRATIC TOWNSEND BRYAN Email:BRYAN@BRYANDE.COM
Url:WWW.BRYANDE.COM 208 RACHEL CT, WESTOVER WOODS, NEWARK DE 19702 (302) 709-1516 03/14/2014

There is one more primary and its winner will go up against Gary Simpsons, Republican from Milford…..

STATE SEN DIS 18 KS DEMOCRATIC EMORY PATRICK J Email:PATRICK.EMORY1@GMAIL.COM
7403 CEDAR CREEK RD, KNELLWOOD RUN, LINCOLN DE 19960 Mailing Address: 7403 CEDAR CREEK RD, LINCOLN DE 19960
(302) 236-3747 01/14/2014

STATE SEN DIS 18 KS DEMOCRATIC WOLFE GARY M Email:GMWLYO@GMAIL.COM
15230 ABBOTTS POND RD, GREENWOOD DE 19950 (302) 422-4468 11/18/2013..

So as far as a change of seats, out of the 10 up for grabs, 3 definitely will be filled by the incumbents and two more will be filled by the same party… 4 of the 10 seats will remain Democratic… One seat is guaranteed to remain Republican The current split in our Senate today is now 12 dems to 9 repubs. That means any change must come from the 5 races being contested by both parties…

These will be:

District 6 where the incumbent is Republican, so even if he wins, no change there… If he loses, one less Republican in the Senate and another piece of Sussex County turns blue.

District 10 where the incumbent is Democrat in a Republican leaning district and could lose to a good Republican.

District 17, where the incumbent is Democrat in a Republican leaning district and could lose to a good Republican.

District 18, where the incumbent is Republican, so even if he wins, no change there… If he loses, one less Republican in the minority.

District 21, where the incumbent is Democratic in a Republican district, and could lose to a good Republican…

So in the best possible scenario for Republicans, if they overturn three seats and hang on to two, at the end of this election cycle, the next two years could give us 12 Republicans to the Democrats 9… giving them control of that chamber…. for the first time in what seems like: since forever…

It appears that Sussex County, Dover, and Delaware City will decide what the late Don King would call: “the fate, of the state….

Now to the House…. Currently running unopposed…. incumbents from these districts

1,2,3,5,7,13,17,23,24,25,26,28,35,36,38,40..… meaning 16 out of 41 state rep districts will have the same human being sitting in the same seat next year… a return rate of 40%…. Of those running in primaries who have no alter other-party opponent, would be these two: Rep. 14 has no Republican; nor does Rep 18 have a Republican challenger…

Giving a total of 18 seats out of the 41 seats which won’t change parties… The current House of Delegates is divided into 27 Democrats and 14 Republicans. To change control they will need 7 switches plus holding on to all their own in order to gain control of the House… 7 seats to switch out of 23 contests..

An outcome that is not too likely.

Therefore we can surmise that the next House side of the General Assembly which will be for Markell’s second half of his second term, will not be very different in any way, from this session…

The battles of personalties will be watched solely for the effect they have on each contender, since in the very big picture, when January rolls around; the House will be the same as it ever was……

Still the Senate looks interesting…. the only place a possible flip could be likely…….

3