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Marie Mayor files for RD 20

Creative thinking is needed, Democrat says
January 24, 2014

A local farmer and former educator is kicking the 2012 election to the curb and running again.

Marie Mayor filed for the 20th Representative District seat, Jan. 21, at the Board of Elections in Georgetown.  The Milton resident is co-owner of Lavender Fields Farm on Cool Spring Road.

Mayor, 66, ran for the same seat in 2012.  She won the primary race handily against two fellow Democrats, but she was defeated in the November 2012 general election by Rep. Steve Smyk, R-Milton, a former state trooper.

The Democratic candidate said supporters convinced her to run again.  The 20th District Democratic Committee is more organized this year, she said.  “I’m starting earlier.”

Mayor said, “I think the same issues are even more important now than they were two years ago.”

If elected, Mayor said she plans to improve transportation safety, develop wiser land-use practices that would protect communities in Sussex County and expand options for seniors who want to remain in their homes.

She also said improving coastal resiliency to extreme weather would be a top priority if she were elected.

“I think we need to have more creative thinking,” Mayor said. Rather than pretending improving the economy and protecting the environment are mutually exclusive, legislators should find a way to do both, she said.

Mayor said she plans to add a new issue to her 2014 campaign ­– inclusiveness.  “All families have value to our district and should have equal respect,” she said.  “This will be expanded upon during the months ahead.”

Mayor is chairwoman of Southern Delaware Tourism Council and is a board member of Milton Chamber of Commerce.  She is former president of the Delaware Agritourism Council and serves as treasurer of the Delaware American Association of University Women.

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