DELAWARE - Three candidates are running in Delaware to replace retiring U.S. Senator Tom Carper. Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester is currently the state's lone Representative in Congress. Republican Eric Hansen cites management experience at Walmart and Procter and Gamble. He is a first-time candidate for any public office. Dr. Mike Katz served one term as Democrat in the State Senate from 2008 to 2012 before dropping his party affiliation.
Visibility in Sussex County has become a topic in the closing weeks of the campaign.
"IÂ go up and down the state and people say to me is where is Lisa," Katz told CoastTV in an exclusive interview. "She has been ineffective in Congress for eight years and she runs her campaign like that."
"[In] Sussex County, sometimes people feel like, 'Hey, I'm not seen," Blunt Rochester told CoastTV in an exclusive interview earlier this month. "I wanted people in Sussex to know: I see you, I hear you, even if you didn't vote for me, I'm going to represent you."
Hansen attempted to take an independent-like tone when addressing the state of the nation's economy. “Both parties have failed Delaware families and the nation," Hansen said. " Trust in government is at an all-time low. What families need, especially with record inflation, is collaboration not partisan politics."
Blunt Rochester has history on her side. Delaware has not elected a Republican to the Senate since Bill Roth won a fifth term in the 1994 campaign.