Candidates vying for Delaware’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives are (l. to r.) Democrat Earl Cooper, Republican Donyale Hall, Democratic State Senator Sarah McBride, and Democrat Elias Weir.
By Andrew Sharp
Four candidates who want to represent Delaware in the U.S. House made their cases on Tuesday, Aug. 27, at a debate in Wilmington, touching on matters overseas like the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and problems closer to home like expensive child care.
Those on the stage included Republican Donyale Hall and Democrats Earl Cooper, Sarah McBride and Elias Weir. Republican John Whalen was invited, but did not participate.
The debate is the second such event hosted by the Delaware Journalism Collaborative in an effort to educate voters ahead of the Sept. 10 primary elections.
The Collaborative, which is made up of more than 20 news outlets statewide, fielded three panelists to ask questions of the candidates at the main branch of the Wilmington Public Library. The debate was also streamed live on Facebook and YouTube. It followed a debate earlier this month featuring six of the candidates for Delaware governor.
The race for the House seat is a case of Delaware dominoes — Sen. Tom Carper, who has been a leader in Delaware politics longer than many voters have been alive, is retiring from his Senate seat. Current U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester is running for Carper’s spot, leaving her own seat empty.
A brief introduction to the candidates:
Cooper is a former Wilmington pastor who started and runs a traffic flagging services company. He frequently pulled his answers back to state-level issues even when the panelists asked about national policy. He focused on his experience as a community and business leader and touted his company’s wages and efforts to help its employees with housing.
Hall, a longtime Dover resident, is an Air Force veteran who owns a general contracting business. She emphasized her military service and her experience as a mother of 10 children who has community connections, arguing that citizens like her are overlooked by Delaware politicians.
McBride has been involved in state and national politics as an advocate and staffer. She was elected to the State Senate in 2020, representing District 1, which covers part of Wilmington and communities north. In the debate, she leaned on her experience and achievements in the General Assembly like spearheading a bill to provide paid family leave, and emphasized the role that government can play in improving lives.
Elias Weir is running as a Democrat. He previously ran for office unsuccessfully for a state Senate seat in Brooklyn, usually as a member of the Conservative Party but once in the Democratic primary. Since moving to Delaware, he has unsuccessfully run in the Democratic primary in 2016 against Blunt Rochester, and in 2020 as an independent write-in candidate for House District 27, according to Ballotpedia. He criticized politicians for failing to deliver on promises, and offered policy opinions that differed sharply from typical Democratic Party positions.
Abortion brings out divides
On the topic of whether states or the federal government should regulate abortion, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning the legal precedent of abortion as a constitutional right, divides emerged among candidates that didn’t neatly follow party lines.
McBride opened with a forceful call for keeping Delaware a safe haven for reproductive health care, saying she would be a champion for a full range of reproductive rights and warning against what “MAGA extremists” would do if they get power. She also criticized Hall’s position that the Supreme Court’s decision clearly put abortion in the hands of the states.
“We’ve done that here in Delaware, and no legal scholar suggests that we cannot do the same at the federal level,” McBride said.
Hall hewed closely to the question in her response, not weighing in on the merits or downsides of abortion, but arguing that the Supreme Court’s ruling made it clearly the province of states and not a constitutional right. She also questioned who is paying for services if Delaware becomes a haven state for out-of-state residents seeking abortions.
Weir, by contrast, running as a Democrat, blasted abortion as an abomination, chiding those in the audience who applauded McBride. “Ronald Reagan had one of the best phrases: Only the living thinks of killing the unborn.” (He appeared to be paraphrasing Reagan’s quote, “I’ve noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.”)
Cooper simply said that this decision is best left to a woman.
EV mandate had few friends on stage
Asked about how to promote clean energy, the candidates quickly began discussing a recent Delaware regulation mandating that an increasing percentage of vehicles offered for sale in Delaware be electric-powered, following in the steps of a similar California rule.
Hall criticized electric vehicle (EV) technology as not yet practical for business transportation or personal use, and said these cars would be unaffordable for many in the state.
“I know that in the conversations that we’ve had across the state of Delaware, there has been an overwhelming outcry against EV mandates,” Hall said.
She also suggested that these kinds of regulations could harm Delaware’s efforts to bring in manufacturers.
Weir also raised concerns about affordability and whether the state has the charging infrastructure needed.
Cooper said a mandate “is rather strong for me” and touted the benefits of innovation, without going into specifics.
McBride argued that the shift to EVs is happening as a result of market forces and decisions, not ideology, but agreed about the need to consider affordability.
“With this entire green revolution, we have to make sure that while we’re addressing the impact of transportation on carbon emissions, we’re also being mindful of people’s pocketbooks,” she said.
She also pointed to her strong support in Delaware for rebates for EV purchases and charging equipment, along with EV-ready standards in homebuilding.
Too much foreign intervention, or not enough?
On foreign policy, McBride’s stances closely tracked the Biden-Harris administration’s, including its fine line on Israel. She emphasized the tragedy of loss of life in both the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas, and the ongoing war in Gaza. She also pointed to the administration’s efforts to negotiate a peace, calling U.S. support of Israel critical in bringing Hamas to negotiations and preventing a spiraling regional war. She supported a two-state solution.
On other pressing geopolitical strains, she said, “China and Russia are part of an alliance of authoritarianism that, when coupled with Iran, pose a real threat to the United States, to our global influence, and to democracies around the world.” She warned of an emboldened Putin, if allowed to succeed in his invasion of Ukraine, standing directly on a NATO border.
Cooper said he stood with Israel, but also that our support for Israel should be conditional, and then spoke of the need to use resources here to address local issues. On China and Russia, he said only that the U.S. needed strong policies toward them, but that relationships with them should be reset. He then again pivoted to focusing on local wages.
Hall spoke again of her military service and that of family members, saying that gave her credibility on foreign policy. Her position on Israel was less well-defined, although she called for “peace through strength” and said, “We have a longstanding ally through Israel that I support us continuing, making sure that we keep that relationship strong for the sake of world peace.”
On Ukraine, Hall said she did not want to see U.S. troops on the ground there (although neither Republicans nor Democrats are calling for sending in troops). She also said she does not want “an ongoing, long-term blank check situation” supporting Ukraine when money is needed for domestic issues.
Weir’s position on Israel was crystal clear. He strongly supported the alliance with Israel and called Hamas a “terrorist nation” that has to be dealt with strongly.
“There’s a main issue here, and that’s God’s promise to Israel, and he said that he would never have any nation destroy (Israel),” Weir said.
He called for the United States to stand strong against China and the U.S.S.R, using the name for Russia’s former communist bloc that has not existed since the Cold War ended in the 1990s. Weir also criticized the United States for helping create China’s power by deciding “that it’s better to oversee products overseas.”
Different approaches to childcare
Asked how they would support greater access to childcare and other child services, some candidates were more specific than others.
Hall focused on a lack of workers in the childcare sector, and promoted the idea of offering incentives for young people to adopt it as a career. However, the state’s purchase of care system, which helps low-income residents pay for childcare, is an enormous cost in the budget, she said, so she would like to offer businesses tax incentives to offer their own childcare.
McBride said childcare is one of the top issues she hears from people about in the state, but for far too many, it’s out of reach financially, and for some people it’s almost more cost effective to give up their job.
She promoted ideas touted by the Biden administration like paid family and medical leave, along with investments in housing, home care and elder care, adding, “Guaranteeing affordable child care for every family, including universal pre-K, will be a top priority for me in Congress.”
McBride also cited her work in the state Senate trying to eliminate copayments for families relying on purchase of care.
Cooper spoke about the need for higher pay overall, touting high wages his company offers employees, saying this is what sustains families.
“Childcare is very important, because of the fact that if a family is not able to afford child’s care and their standard of living is not up to the standard, it’s a very difficult task,” Weir said. He raised concerns about using taxpayer dollars to deal with this issue, though.
Immigration: A solution needed, but what is it?
Hall made two basic points on immigration. First, she linked issues providing adequate services to veterans to government spending on migrants. “We absolutely have to do whatever is necessary to secure our southern border immediately. We cannot afford to keep having (an) influx of more people that are coming to the States that are hurting us here by taking away valuable resources from homeless veterans.”
Second, she agreed that there’s a “quagmire” in dealing with immigration applications and said a solution is needed.
“We are a nation of immigrants,” McBride said. “And we have to maintain the fact that we can have a strong and secure border while also treating those here humanely, whether they are documented or not, and also provide an expedited legal pathway to citizenship.”
She praised a bipartisan border bill that failed in Congress earlier this year.
It “would have resulted in significant investments in securing our southern border, while also guaranteeing significant investments to streamline our immigration processes. … Unfortunately Donald Trump killed that bill. He thought that maintaining the dynamics on the southern border would help him politically, and I do not believe we should let petty politics get in the way.”
Weir focused on the DREAM Act, which would offer legal protections for children brought here illegally, who are also known as Dreamers. It’s been a point of debate for decades, but has never gotten enough support in Congress. “Congress has an obligation to pass this bill,” he said.
But he also supported controversial remarks made in the gubernatorial debate by Republican Bobby Williamson, who tried to link immigrants to increased crime in Seaford., saying that
Cooper, for his part, briefly said that we should work to monitor incoming immigrants and give them the ability to gain legal status. He then again switched to a different topic, senior health care costs in Delaware, saying the state needs to help its residents live better.
To watch the complete debate, including thoughts on dealing with pollution, and protections for children on social media, visit youtube.com/@DEJournalismCollaborative.
To find out more about this year’s elections and the candidates, visit the Delaware Journalism Collaborative’s voters guide.
The Delaware Journalism Collaborative is a project of the Local Journalism Initiative.
