BRIDGEVILLE — Current 35th District representative, local farmer and businessman Rep. Jesse Vanderwende, R-Bridgeville, is running for reelection.

In a press release issued Monday, Rep. Vanderwende said he is looking forward to serving his third term in office where he has passed legislation helping local building and loans, and has proposed legislation to help prevent fraudulent voting.

Rep. Vanderwende said he also “vehemently supports the Constitution and the 2nd Amendment and will always fight for our rights to keep and bear arms, defend public safety and our first responders, support resources for education, and use his common sense approach regarding infrastructure.”

Rep. Vanderwende is the past president and a current member of the Bridgeville Kiwanis Club, the past president of the Delaware Soybean Board. a member of the Delaware State Fair board and the past president of the Sussex County Farm Bureau.

The Vanderwende family farms 4,000 acres in western Sussex County, cultivating watermelons, grains, sweet corn, and peas. They also have a dairy herd of 240 Holstein cows and raise chickens for Perdue. Rep. Vanderwende and his wife Taylor reside in Bridgeville where they are raising two sons.

The family is perhaps best known for operating a retail and wholesale ice cream business with locations in Bridgeville, Greenwood, Fenwick Island and Dewey Beach.

The 35th Representative District is in northwest and north-central Sussex County. It includes the municipalities of Bridgeville, Greenwood and a portion of Georgetown.