One year in, Lisa Blunt Rochester still smiling
A little more than a year after being sworn in as the first woman and first African-American representative of Delaware in Washington, D.C., Lisa Blunt Rochester said she was still smiling despite obvious attempts by Republicans to roll back all the social gains made over the past few decades.
“I’m on the front lines of history,” Rochester said March 17 to members of the Eastern Sussex Democratic Club. “This is the most important time to be in Washington, D.C.”
Rochester attended the meeting to show her support for Sussex County Democrats running for office in 2018 – in the audience were 36th Rep. District candidate Donald Allan, 20th Rep. District candidate Jack Bucchioni, 6th Senatorial District candidate Dave Baker, Auditor of Accounts candidate Kathy McGuiness and 14th Rep. District incumbent candidate Pete Schwartzkopf. She’s also up for re-election, so before rallying the troops, Rochester took time to discuss her first-year accomplishments.
Rochester said she has been a sponsor or co-sponsor on more than 200 bills, and has been appointed to a number of high-profile committees. She serves on the House Committee on Education and Workforce as well as the House Committee on Agriculture.
The last congressman from Delaware on the agriculture committee was 120 years ago, Rochester said, adding it’s an important committee because agriculture is urban, rural and international, which will help Delawareans in the long run.
Moving on to encourage other candidates, Rochester used her own experience as a first-time candidate in 2016. She said she worked her butt off meeting constituents. She also poked fun at President Donald Trump, saying her favorite song right now is “Stormy Weather.”
House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst followed Rochester at the luncheon. She said she was there to garner support for a bill introducing an Equal Rights Amendment to the state constitution.
According to the synopsis for House Bill 299, the legislation is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to provide equal rights on the basis of sex. About half the states have passed an Equal Rights Amendment to the state constitutions. To amend the state’s constitution, a bill has to pass through two consecutive General Assemblies, garnering a two-thirds majority vote in the House and Senate both times.
Longhurst said she has presented the bill before, and it gets voted down along party lines every time.
Longhurst said a rally supporting the legislation has been planned for noon, Wednesday, March 28, at Legislative Hall in Dover. She said Rochester, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons and Fearless Girl creator Kristen Visbal have all said they’ll be at the rally. Longhurst then encouraged everyone to wear to purple.
