Candidate Name: Rony Baltazar-Lopez (Pronounced Rah-knee Ball-tah-zar Low-pez)

Office you are seeking: State Representative - District 36

Party: Democrat

Age: 29

Hometown: Milford

Political experience: Milford School District Board of Education Vice President - 2019 through 2022

Professional experience:

Educational Attainment

• Bachelor’s in political science from the University of Delaware (2017)
• Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Delaware (2022)

Career Experience

• National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI Delaware) - Programs Coordinator (2017)
• United States Senate 2017 - 2019: Legislative staffer to U.S. Senator Tom Carper (2017 - 2022). Worked on issues relating to homeland security, immigration, veterans, governmental affairs, and firefighters.
• Delaware Department of Justice (2020 - 2021): Communications staffer to Attorney General Kathy Jennings.
• Delaware Department of State (2021 - present): Legislative and Communications Director to the Secretary of State.

Board Experience

• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Delaware
• Common Interest Community Advisory Council
• Delaware Advisory Council on Career and Technical Education (DACCTE), (Appointed by the Governor)
• Delaware Center for Inland Bays (appointed by the Senate President Pro Tempore)
• Delaware Hispanic Commission, Vice Chair (Governor appointed)
• Delaware Stadium Corporation (Secretary of State’s designee)
• Fort Dupont Redevelopment & Preservation Corporation (Secretary of State’s designee)
• Educational Equity Council (Secretary of State’s designee)
• La Red Health Center, Vice President
• Milford Parks and Recreational Advisory Council
• Milford School District Board of Education

What uniquely qualifies you for this office?

Being raised in a low-income, immigrant spanish-speaking household, I’ve faired my own share of challenges that I have overcame. My upbringing helped informed me of the challenges that many of our neighbors face and it led for me to pursue a career in public service.

I’ve spent my career building the skills, understanding the issues, and gaining the knowledge to tackle the issues that exist in education and in the healthcare sector, for example. This is evident by the broad range of fields in my employment and boardmanship.

At 29, I believe that I possess the leadership, knowledge, and commitment to represent all communities and take their interests to the halls of the Delaware General Assembly.

What are the top three issues for this office in your view? 

1. Education

As a public school graduate, I believe education is one of the most important ways to uplift our community and ensure that everyone has a fair shot to succeed in life. However, there are systemic challenges in education that continue to hinder the ability for families and students to succeed. We’re experiencing a teacher shortage crisis, increased behavioral and mental health needs among our students, and our students not being ready for college and/or careers upon graduation. My platform centers on the following:

• Increasing teacher, paraprofessional, and support staff wages to be competitive with neighboring states.
• Promote high-retention pathways into teaching and fund teacher residencies.
• Increase behavioral and mental health supports in schools.
• Support investments for multilingual learners, students with disabilities, and low-income students.
• Support capital investments to maintain smaller classroom sizes.
• Ensure accountability and transparency of school districts.
• Promote work based learning opportunities.

2. Affordable Healthcare

As the only candidate in this race who serves on a federally qualified health center’s board of directors, I’ve come to understand the challenges in accessing affordable healthcare. The reality, too, is that trained medical professionals don’t necessarily stay in Sussex County for a long time adding to the increased pressures in our healthcare systems. My platform includes:

• Provide incentives to retain and recruit medical professionals in Sussex County.
• Continue leading the efforts to establish a medical school in Delaware, particularly in Sussex County, to train and retain professionals in the area.
• Streamline licensing and accreditation processes to make it easier to practice without compromising quality of care or patient safety.
• Expand telehealth services to underserved areas.

3. Affordable Housing and balanced growth

When the median single-family home in Sussex County averages more than $400,000, that’s a problem. If individuals in Sussex County, including the same professionals that we are trying to retain and recruit, cannot afford to live here, they can’t afford to work here. Sussex County, including the 36th District, is growing and thriving and we need to ensure that the growth that we are seeing is balanced and smart while ensuring that our infrastructure and schools are keeping up with the increased population increase. My platform includes:

• Working with the Delaware Office of State Planning and local municipalities to ensure local zoning accommodates higher-density housing construction.
• Continue assisting first-time homebuyers by extending the programs provided by the Delaware State Housing Authority.
• Increase school impact fees for developers to meet the needs of school capital investments.

What would be your top priority if elected? 

My top priority if elected would be to address our education system funding which is antiquated and does not meet the needs of our ever-changing school communities, including students with disabilities, low-income children, and multilingual learners. It is no secret that Delaware ranks top ten worse states for educational outcomes and a recent independent assessment of our schools recommended changes to our funding formula. The assessment called for switching from a unit count system to a weighted scale formula. Such a formula is used in various other states and it ensures that dollars are actually reaching students. In the process, it provides greater autonomy for school districts to hire staff as it sees necessary and it provides greater transparency and accountability of where funds are being spent.

If elected, I would work with my colleagues and ask to serve on the Education Committee to help spearhead changes to the education system to ensure that every student has a fair shot.

If you could change or protect one state policy or law, what would it be?

Delaware is one of a handful of states that does not allow for same day voter registration. Same-Day Registration would allow for eligible voters to register and cast a ballot at the same time on Election Day or during early voting period. The state’s law, which can only be changed through a constitutional amendment, should be changed because not every individual is engaged politically and may miss key deadlines. While Delaware has made strides in recent years such as automatically registering people to vote when they get their driver’s license, Same-Day Registration would simplify access to the ballot and increase voter participation–which is a win for democracy.

I would support a constitutional amendment to implement Same-Day Registration.

What can Delaware do about its workforce issues?

Addressing our workforce issues start in our schools. As the only candidate in this race who serves on the Delaware Advisory Council on Career and Technical Education, We must continue strengthening and expanding career and technical education in our schools. The reality is that not all students will be going to college and we must train students to be both career and college ready. This in turn will ensure that our students are ready for careers and for jobs once they graduate. I would consider the following:

• Expanding programs of study to include Fire/EMS
• Strengthen opportunities for certifications and credentialing within approved programs of study.
• Begin providing pathway programs to middle school students.
• Provide additional teacher preparation programs within Career Technical Education teacher certification programs.
• Provide additional work based learning opportunities for high school students.
• Ensure school districts are using all their occupational-vocational Division I funds to properly staff approved courses.

How would you protect or change state employee benefits?

As a state employee myself, making sure that benefits continue for the next generation of civil servants is important to me. A lot of work was done by the 152nd General Assembly to protect state employee benefits but the future General Assemblies must work to continue the long-term sustainability of retiree health care and benefits while balancing the State’s finances.

I would work with the Retiree Healthcare Benefits Advisory Subcommittee or other tasks force to continue protecting benefits for state employees.

What would you do to improve the quality of education in the First State?

• Increase teacher, paraprofessional, and support staff wages to be competitive with neighboring states.
• Promote high-retention pathways into teaching and fund teacher residencies.
• Increase behavioral and mental health supports in schools.
• Support investments for multilingual learners, students with disabilities, and low-income students.
• Support capital investments to maintain smaller classroom sizes.
• Ensure accountability and transparency of school districts.
• Promote work based learning opportunities.
• Switch the unit count formula to a weight scale formula.

What issues do you strongly support and would not compromise?

My commitment to civil and human rights are unwavering. Protecting LGBTQ+ rights and ensuring and expanding access to reproductive healthcare are important to me.

How do you improve civility and thoughtful dialog in Delaware politics?

We can improve civility and thoughtful dialog in Delaware politics by listening more and being less reactive. By making an intentional effort to reach people–regardless of political ideology–is the way that we can make progress to address challenges.

How do you perceive the “Delaware way” today?

If this election cycle has shown us anything it is Delawareans are ready for new perspectives, ideas, and individuals to represent them. We’ve seen in the latest primaries that individuals who had been in office for a long time or had powerful positions within their caucus, lost or came close to losing. To me, this means that the Delaware Way is slowly ceasing to exist and that government will hopefully become more representative of the people that it serves.