By Glenn Rolfe

LONG NECK — One county’s loss is another’s gain.

Population growth in southern Delaware over the last decade has generated a legislative shift among the 41 House of Representatives’ districts.

Based on 2020 census data, Sussex County will gain an additional House district, beginning with the 2022 election, at the expense of northern New Castle County, which will lose a district.

Already, some 11 months before that vote, there is plenty of political focus on the new 4th District in eastern Sussex County and beyond.

“The Sussex Democrat Committee, we have been geared up and prepared for this ever since the discussion about redistricting began, searching for candidates, searching for volunteers and fundraising, so we can support those candidates who are intending to run,” said Jane Hovington, chair of the committee.

For Lewis Briggs II, vice chairman of the Sussex County Republican Party, it’s an interesting time.

“It leads to a different area of people you can find to run for office,” he said. “I will say, we have had a lot of interest. A lot of people have popped up and said they are interested. People are becoming more active in politics than ever before.”

According to the final House of Representatives’ remapping, the new District 4 encompasses the greater Long Neck/Angola area. It is nestled between House District 14 (a seat held by Democrat Pete Schwartzkopf), District 38 (Republican Ron Gray), District 41 (Republican Rich Collins), District 37 (Republican Ruth Briggs King) and District 20 (Republican Steve Smyk).

“There is a lot of interest, I think, on both sides,” said Rep. Briggs King. “I’ve had a lot of people contact me, seeing that it is a new district, and I represent part of it now. So there is a lot of interest in that new district, people that would like to be that representative.”

Ms. Hovington added, “I can assure you the Sussex Democrats were on it as soon as they started talking about redistricting. We didn’t know where the lines were. But once the lines were drawn, we realized that there were people coming from each of the (representative districts). There are good, qualified people coming from those RDs, to make for a very strong district. It is our anticipation to have a strong candidate come out of that, someone who is going to represent us well.”

As it is a new district, there is no incumbent. So in theory, political parties are starting on a level playing field.

Demographically speaking, 2020 census data lists the district’s population at 23,653, just below the ideal average. Broken down by race, there are 19,435 White residents, 1,249 Black, 300 Asian and 1,647 Hispanics. By political party affiliation, 7,813 are Republican, 7,970 are Democrat and 4,757 “other.”

At present, all House and Senate seats in Sussex County are held by Republicans, except for the 14th House spot, which is held by Rep. Schwartzkopf, the speaker of the House.

Again, the new 4th District doesn’t take effect until November 2022. Current representative district boundaries remain until then.

In November, there will be an open seat with no incumbent in the 6th Senatorial District, as Republican Ernie Lopez has announced his intention to not seek reelection.

“With the current environment out there, people are really expressing their interests in politics. Most of the meetings you go to, they are growing (in) size. And their interest is not so much complaining but as to how to be involved in the process, which is very important,” said Mr. Briggs. “I think it bodes well for democracy. I think it bodes well for Sussex County and the state of Delaware.”

Ms. Hovington agreed.

“It is a very important election. And the reason I consider it important is because every position is up. So anyone who had thought about running and was hesitant about running, here is their perfect opportunity to run. And it is the Democrats’ perfect opportunity to support candidates,” she said.

“You can check with any of the chairs of the different RDs. They are all excited about what this opportunity presents to us. We’re looking for new candidates. We’re looking for new blood. We really believe that this is our opportunity to get people in office who are going to represent us and the needs that we have in our community.”

She added that the effect of the new district trickles down.

“The key to this is, not only does it make us interested in representative districts, but it has us looking at the County Council seats, the row offices. So we’re looking for this to be a very exciting election.”