I grew up happily in a simple ranch-style house in a middle-class neighborhood. My parents and neighbors worked hard at jobs that allowed them to raise their kids in a safe place with wonderful schools (in my case, a local public school).

Fast forward to 2025. Bart and I heard very familiar aspirations from our neighbors when walking door-to-door during this past election season (as we do for all elections).

• The desire for strong, steady economic growth and good-paying jobs.
• The ability to access to high quality health care.
• Safe neighborhoods and educational opportunity for their kids.
• Help in addressing the increased cost of childcare, health care and prescriptions …particularly for seniors.

Simply stated, they want a level playing field. It means we must be laser-focused on building and holding to account a government that prioritizes educational and economic opportunity for those who want to work hard and build a better life. We must demand a government that fights to protect and improve our ‘safety net’ for the less fortunate among us … and one that protects and repairs our environment.

It also means that our government must work closely with the business community (both for-profit and non-profit sectors alike), supporting both small and large organizations, especially those that are ‘home grown’. At the same time, we must strongly support working families to ensure that they get their fair share of the resulting prosperity.

In his final speech as President, Joe Biden called upon us to stand guard. I fully agree. Extremely challenging times are upon us considering the new leadership at the helm of our national government and the extremely powerful forces that are at work against values we hold closely. As changes come into focus for Delaware, my guiding principles will be to:

• Work to ensure fair taxation so that those already with substantial wealth do not receive a ‘windfall’ in benefits when compared with the rest of us.
• Fight to defend a strong social ‘safety net’ to cushion those who fall upon hard times. This includes retirement security.
• Advocate for the rights of workers to exercise freely their right to unionize, and for all working people to experience the dignity of their work, free from discrimination and harassment.
• Engage diligently and in good faith with businesses that strive to demonstrate clear opportunity benefitting Delawareans and exhibit respect for our environment.