Milford-area voters appear split in one of Delaware's most "purple" districts
Democrats are poised to gain a supermajority in the Delaware General Assembly following this election, and a Milford-area seat could be the deciding factor.
State Rep. Bryan Shupe (R-Milford) faces Democratic challenger Rony Baltazar-Lopez in Delaware's House District 36 race.
The race is one of four key State House seats that could determine if Democrats gain a two-thirds majority in the House — the party already holds a supermajority in the State Senate.
"I've talked about it before, but the supermajority in Delaware is real, and this is one of the seats that we're fighting back against it," Shupe said outside of Lulu M. Ross Elementary School on Election Day. "Regardless of what party you are, I think the supermajority is something that could have dangerous effects in Delaware, where a majority party — regardless of what party they are — does not kind of have to check in when they either change the constitution or create laws."
Baltazar-Lopez previously told Delaware Public Media that he doesn't stand for a party or an ideology and instead stands for the district, and he believes he can deliver more for constituents.
"I've gotten support from those who are from the far right to all those in the far left," Baltazar-Lopez said. "People are more concerned about how we can improve real issues in our district, whether it's protecting our environment, making sure that we're holding developers accountable, making sure that we're expanding affordable access to healthcare, and making sure that we're making investments in education. They're not concerned about super majorities or what that means for them."
Peggy Schmidt, a volunteer for Baltazar-Lopez's campaign was also outside Lulu M. Ross Elementary School — she takes credit for helping convince Baltazar-Lopez to run.
"I was hearing things about him maybe being interested [in running], and so I contacted him and said 'Come talk to me.' And he came over, and we spent about three hours talking, and I was just so impressed with him and so pleased that he decided to run," Schmidt said.
She admits she voted for Shupe in the past against Democratic challengers because she felt he was more qualified, but she has now become disaffected with his leadership.
"I decided maybe he's not as a good of a representative for me and for people like me."
Shupe won his September Primary Election against Republican challenger Patrick Smith by merely 12 votes, and as of Nov. 1, 2024, registered Republicans only outnumber registered Democrats by 184 voters in the district, leaving the remaining roughly 30% to either be unaffiliated or Independent.
Despite the area hosting one of the most contentious state-level races, the presidential race between Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump appears to be at the forefront of Milford voters' minds.
Shadette Boone of Milford says while she was excited to cast a ballot for a woman of color to become president, she believes the quality of the candidate is more important.
"That can't be the primary reason why you select a candidate. You really have to— and listen, no one candidate will check all of our boxes, but I had to go with my gut," Boone said.
She explains despite being past reproductive age herself, protecting women's reproductive rights is her main reason for opposing Trump.
"You cannot dispute how important that is for my daughter, my granddaughters and for the generations to follow behind me, and I just don't like the idea of someone that is so far removed taking control, or trying to take control, of personal decisions."
But for Milford's Michael Hauptmann, immigration, the economy and law enforcement are his top-of-mind issues, and he believes the current vice president is too inexperienced to take on the presidency.
"I look at it as nobody is a perfect candidate, but there is experience, and then there's no experience, so that was my main driver," Hauptmann said.
The first presidential election Hauptmann voted in was in 1968, choosing between Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. Tuesday, he left the First Baptist Church of Milford having cast a ballot for Trump, although he admits he has only voted for the former president once in the past two presidential elections.
Janice Good of Milford has voted for Trump now in all three elections and said she voted straight-ticket Republican in hopes to break the norm in a blue state, arguing Harris is not "presidential material."
"Delaware is considered a Democratic state and maybe I thought I was going to change it. The street that I moved in on is a new street and all of my neighbors are all Republicans and maybe we can change the state," she said, citing undocumented immigration as her top voting issue as she left the Mispillion Elementary School polling location.
Janice Mitchell of Milford said she's very nervous about the election following her exit from the same location, but for different reasons than Good.
"I'm a Democrat, and of course, I want Harris to win. I think it would be horrible for the country to have Trump — I think we'd lose a lot of rights, and we'd be very, very sorry in the next four years," she said.
Mitchell explains she's not too worried about the governor's race or other down-ballot races because Delaware largely ends up voting Democratic. She said she voted for Baltazar-Lopez in the House race, but that face-off is not top of mind for her.
"Shupe, even though he's Republican, has done pretty well for the area. Rony seems to be interesting — I voted for him, so I'm not too worried about that race."
Mitchell says she has no hard feelings about Delaware-native Joe Biden not running for reelection this year.
"I was concerned before Harris stepped in with the way Biden's health seemed to be going, but I still think he would have done a much better job than Trump would have," she said.
Delaware's polling locations will remain open until 8 p.m. on Tuesday with statewide results expected later in the evening.
