This is not the opening line of a country song. Instead, it’s the way that the Delaware Senate Democrats handled the reapportionment of senate seats and how they cheated Sussex County. To be clear, this is not a Democrat or a Republican issue. This is a Sussex County issue and should be of interest to Democrats, Republicans, Independents and anyone who lives in the southern part of our state.

So, here’s what was supposed to have happened. When the party in the majority reviews the census numbers to determine at how seats will be allocated, there are 4 tenets they are to consider:    

1. The district must be formed of contiguous territory 
2. Be nearly equal in population 
3. Be bounded by major roads, streams or other natural boundaries  
4. Not be created so as to unduly favor any person or political party

The new configuration of the senate seats meets criteria 1 and 3. However, criteria 2 and 4 were ignored.

Be nearly equal in population 

The range of the population runs from 44,817 or 4.91% below the mean in Senator Darius Brown’s district to 49,173 or 4.35% above the mean in Senator Bryant Richardson’s district. That’s a swing of 4,356 people or 9.26%. 8 of the 14 Democrat seats are below the population mean. Every one of the 7 seats held by Republicans is over the population mean.

Not be created so as to unduly favor any person or political party 

Of the 21 Senators in Delaware’s General Assembly, 14 seats are held by Democrats and the balance by Republicans. Anyone who is paying attention knows that the surge in population that Delaware is experiencing is taking place in the South. However, the Senate Democrats did nothing to address this. None of the seats in New Castle County, the Democrat stronghold, were restructured. If you thought that these elected officials sought office to serve you, sadly you were wrong. These antics illustrate that holding onto their incumbent seats in New Castle was the primary concern and equity and adhering to the principles of reapportionment was not a consideration. They did everything they could to avoid having the Democrat Senators in New Castle primary each other. This is clearly an attempt to favor the Democrat party and maintain power. The way this was done is in direct opposition to this principle.

By tainting the process, the citizens of Sussex County will be underrepresented in the Senate in Dover. If one looks at the number of building permits that have been issued in Sussex, it is clear that this imbalance will only get worse.

It is time to pushback on this egregious power grab. I am asking you to take a stand and protect Sussex County citizens from unequal representation in the Senate. We need constituents to voice their concerns. Send your name and contact information to Sussexgop@protonmail.com. Put Senate Redistricting in the subject line. We will be in touch in the next couple of weeks with more information on how you can help stop this outrageous power grab by Senate Democrats.