District 6 Senate candidates differ on divisiveness

Candidates for the Cape Region’s Senate seat presented their reasons for running Oct. 22, with the Republican challenger saying division is a serious issue in the state and the Democrat incumbent saying he has worked well across the aisle.

Sen. Russ Huxtable, D-Lewes, and Republican candidate Kim Hoey Stevenson met in Lewes during a League of Women Voters forum, giving their views on healthcare, housing, the environment and offshore wind.

“The No. 1 challenge we have in the state is divisiveness. It affects everything that happens in this state,” Hoey Stevenson said. “I’m seeing that we’re not getting things done in a cooperative method these days … if we don’t have people talking to each other to work it out together, we’re not going to get answers that work.”

Huxtable said his tenure as senator has been marked by success and working across the aisle with Republicans. Opposing the construction of a restaurant at Cape Henlopen State Park, creating a voluntary school assessment – an impact fee – to help schools, and a series of state and local investments in affordable housing are a few of the achievements he said he helped accomplish in his first term. 

“We’ve done a lot of great work,” he said. “We’ve brought a lot of investments into the area, and we will continue doing that over the next four years.”

Workforce housing is needed, and he said he worked with all legislators to increase a state affordable housing development fund to $31.5 million coupled with more than $70 million in federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act.

“I’m glad to have led the bipartisan housing package that we introduced last session,” he said, adding he has worked with his Republican counterparts in the General Assembly.

“That’s how it needs to be done,” he said. “Most bills, the majority of them, probably 80% or more, are done on a bipartisan basis.”

Huxtable was the only Democratic senator who voted against House Bill 350, which created a state-appointed board to oversee hospital finances.

“I did not think it was right for the state to come in and alter the budget of a nonprofit, so I did ultimately vote against the bill,” he said.

However, Huxtable said he worked for an amendment to the bill that passed that gives Sussex representation throughout the process.

On the offshore wind proposal, Hoey Stevenson said it is an expensive form of energy that will lead to higher electric bills, and cause issues for local watermen and Coast Guard rescues.

“Offshore wind is expensive,” she said, which can increase electric bills for people already struggling to pay their existing costs. “Community, large-scale solar is one answer. Small-scale nuclear is another … I think those are safer, better for our economy, better for our people.”

As for the state’s electric vehicle mandate, Hoey Stevenson said it's a way of taking over a business and telling them how to run without legislation.

“That’s not the way things should go in this state,” she said, adding a $2,500 rebate given for people who buy an EV is not going to do much to help anyone who is already struggling to buy a new car.

Huxtable said he supports the state plan to become net zero by 2050, which includes wind power and the electric vehicle mandate. 

“We need to look at all of our power options,” he said. “Not only will [wind power] help us achieve net-zero energy and help reduce climate change and carbon outputs, but there are other opportunities with offshore wind that could be a benefit to Delaware.”

The EV mandate will not require 100% of vehicles sold to be electric, only 82%, which he said shows flexibility by the state, and that officials listened and learned during the hearing process.

As a member of the Sunset Committee, Huxtable said he plans to research what the impacts of the regulation will be on the state’s gas tax that goes to fund roadways, and examine what the electrification and infrastructure needs will be to run more electric vehicles. 

On abortion, Huxtable said he supports state law that keeps abortion legal. Hoey Stevenson said she also supports keeping abortion legal, but work needs to be done to keep it safe and rare.

“I’m worried that this has become such a huge issue, that people are so concerned about abortion that we’re not helping women in other areas of their health,” she said.

Overall, Hoey Stevenson said she believes the people of Delaware can make their own choices about the cars they drive, the homes they live in and how they raise their families. A Democrat super majority is not far away, she said, and it will not benefit the state.

“When one-party rule is in place, it means other people don’t get a say,” she said.