
Steve Washington and Brent Burdge are the GOP nominees for the upcoming state Senate special elections.
Updated 12/13 with an interview with Steve Washington.
Both major parties have candidates set to run for upcoming special state Senate elections, with the GOP announcing the nominations of Steve Washington and Brent Burdge on Thursday.
Washington will face United Way executive Dan Cruce in Senate District 1 to represent Bellefonte, parts of Wilmington, and surrounding communities. The victor will replace Sarah McBride, the Democrat elected last month to represent Delaware in Congress.
Burdge will run against former state Representative Ray Seigfried in District 5, which spans much of the state’s northern border and includes Claymont, Arden, and Tallyville. Whoever wins will fill the seat now held by Lieutenant Governor-elect Kyle Evans Gay (D).
Once McBride and Gay resign their seats, the state is expected to schedule the special elections for later this winter.
RELATED: Democrats nominate Cruce, Burdge for state Senate special election
After the Northern New Castle County Region formed a nominating subcommittee to vet interested candidates, they unanimously recommended that New Castle County Republican Chair Eric Braunstein nominate Washington and Burdge.
According to regional Republican Chair P.J. O’Dwyer, while other Republicans earlier expressed interest in McBride’s seat, all ended up concluding Burdge was best poised to seek it. Washington also ended up with no intra-party opposition.
O’Dwyer said Braunstein indicated support for both recommendations and has received positive receptions about them from Senate GOP Caucus leaders and state Republican Party officials.
In 2022 and this year, Burdge ran for the Delaware House of Representatives in District 10. A Kansas native, he and his wife moved to the First State in 1990. Now retired, he worked for DuPont and later for its spin-off Axalta Coating Systems.
Burdge told Delaware Live he wants to provide more balance in a General Assembly now dominated by Democrats in both chambers.
“I really think that Delaware has been moving in the wrong direction, and we need to bring some new voices into the Assembly to counter the more extreme voices that have been emerging on the left,” he said. “I’m hoping to bring some common sense and some stability to it.”
He mentioned improving the state’s public education system — which he judged “a mess” — as a top priority, largely focusing on accountability for state-level and school-district administrators. Despite spending more per pupil than the most states, Delaware now ranks 45th in student achievement according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation and 46th in educational freedom according to the pro-school-choice Heritage Foundation.
“We’ve got to find a better way so that our children are prepared for success in life, because right now they aren’t,” he said.
O’Dwyer said Burdge’s professional background makes the candidate conversant with the key business issues that matter to Delawareans’ prosperity.
“He’s an engineer by trade and one of the most knowledgeable people on legislative issues and, I think, should he prevail, he will be a superb constituent-service person for people in the district regardless of their political affiliation,” said O’Dwyer.
A Wilmington native, Washington said education reform is his paramount concern because good schooling can help economically disadvantaged youth to eventually thrive. He said he wants a more equitable system of student testing and curricula that better speaks to children’s needs.
“My platform is really a triangle, at the apex of the triangle is education because education is the field that makes all other fields possible,” he said.
Washington retired as a special education teacher in the Brandywine School District but returned to teaching as a special education and English Language Arts teacher at Glasgow High School.
He founded the HBCU Delaware Coalition Inc., which aids those attending historically black colleges and universities. He has also served as a Wilmington Housing Authority commissioner and was appointed by Democratic Governor John Carney to the Delaware Board of Parole.
“He’s been really involved in the community in many, many ways,” O’Dwyer said. “He’s someone who I think would be a terrific public servant.”
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