By Brian Gilliland

DOVER — After a long three-way race between Claire Snyder-Hall, Marty Rendon, and Kathy McGuiness, it is former Common Cause Delaware executive director Claire Snyder-Hall who will face Republican Mike Simpler during the Nov. 5 general election for the District 14 seat in the Delaware House of Representatives.

“I’m elated. I’m so happy the voters of the fourteenth district have chosen me to be their representative,” Ms. Snyder-Hall said, and thanked her team of volunteers and donors who supported her campaign.

“We were all out knocking on doors and meeting people,” she continued. “I’ve heard back that it made a difference.”

Ms. Snyder-Hall served as the leader of the pro-democracy organization Common Cause Delaware for five years, working in Legislative Hall to promote transparency and accountability in state government.

Ms. Snyder-Hall’s victory came without the endorsement of the retiring Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, who had held the 14^th District seat in the Delaware House of Representatives since 2002, before declining to run in this reelection cycle. Rep. Schwartzkopf endorsed Kathy McGuiness.

Ms. McGuiness is a licensed pharmacist who served as a Rehoboth Beach commissioner for a total of 16 years. She was elected the state’s first ever female state auditor in 2018 and served in that capacity until her resignation in 2022 amid a conviction for misdemeanor conflict of interest.

Mr. Rendon served as a congressional aide in Washington D.C. and as UNICEF’s vice president for Public Policy and Advocacy.

Few primary voters in eastern Sussex County were willing to speak on the record about the election, and even fewer were willing to voice their preference for a particular candidate, if they had any at all.

“I picked the candidate I heard the least bad stuff about, but I didn’t have strong feelings,” Kendra Cortese said regarding the District 14 race for the Delaware House of Representatives, but declined to elaborate on which candidate that was, in her experience.

Ernesto Velez said the voting process was very easy, and he didn’t expect the process to be so simple, but declined to comment beyond that.

Colleen Martin said she supported Claire Snyder-Hall based on her stances on reducing development, reproductive rights, and the candidate visited her at home.

Staff writer Brian Gilliland can be reached at 410-603-3737 or bg@iniusa.org. Staff writer Joe Edelen contributed to this story.

Department of  Elections