Although we’ve made significant progress, the Delaware State Legislature overwhelmingly does not look like the people it serves. Women make up 51.6 percent of Delawareans, but only 24.2 percent of legislators. African-Americans compose 23 percent of Delawareans, but only 12.9 percent of legislators; 9.5 percent of our neighbors are Hispanic, but only 1.6 percent of them are legislators. Delaware’s Asian-American and LGBT populations stand at 4.1 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively, with no representation in Dover. Overall, 75.8 percent of Delaware’s legislators are white, heterosexual men.
Also, the current and former professions of Delaware legislators over-represent specific occupations and a certain socioeconomic class. Many legislators are lawyers, retired police officers, business owners and executives, and realtors. Where are the blue-collar workers? Where are the most economically vulnerable among us? Where are the rainbow of faces we see each day in our places of work and worship, in our stores and on our streets, in our neighborhoods and newspapers?
Governing bodies should look like the communities they serve, and their members should have life experiences and histories proportionate to the constituents they serve. How can elected officials implement solutions to vital problems without the perspective of the people affected by those problems? How does a legislative body even identify our problems when demographically speaking, its members are quite monolithic? We must identify our problems before we can solve them, and the people most affected by those problems must have a voice in resolving them.
As a gay man who has fought hard for Delaware’s LGBT community for 27 years, lack of diversity in our state Legislature is personal for me. In the body’s 243-year history, no openly LGBT candidate has ever been elected to it. I would be the first openly LGBT person elected to the General Assembly; the second openly LGBT person to serve in it; and the first openly LGBT person to serve in the House of Representatives. We have many wonderful allies in Dover, but Delaware’s LGBT community deserves a seat at the table.
A dearth of diversity among our state legislators also contributes to bigoted words and actions. For example, in 2017, senators David Lawson and Colin Bonini walked out on a Muslim prayer opening the Senate. Upon his return to the Senate floor, Sen. Lawson called the prayer “despicable.” He said, “We just heard from the Quran, which calls for our demise. I fought for this country, not to be damned by someone that comes in here and prays to their God for our demise.”
Before adjourning for the day, Senate President Pro Tempore David McBride declared that “to criticize the sacred prayer of another religion from the floor of the Senate strikes me as antithetical to everything we ought to stand for as lawmakers. And for our guests today to be branded as anti-American when our First Amendment of our country’s Constitution explicitly guarantees the freedom of religion is both ironic and deeply sad to me.” Two years later, Sen. Lawson claimed that Muslim Delawareans want to “subvert our constitution.”
As another example, my six-term Democratic incumbent opponent, Rep. Earl Jaques, recently made comments about the LGBT community egregious enough that the Delaware Democratic House Caucus issued a statement reiterating their support for Delaware’s LGBT community. “We have spoken with Rep. Jaques and expressed our disagreement with what he said,” they declared. Later, Rep. Jaques apologized for his comments, calling them “insensitive, hurtful and simply wrong.”
However, Rep. Jaques’ apology doesn’t change his 2013 vote against same-sex marriage, and his 2017 abstention on banning the barbaric practice of “conversion therapy” for Delaware’s LGBT minors.
I am a frequent critic of identity politics. No one should be elected based simply on their gender, age, race, sexual orientation, religion, or lack thereof. We must elect candidates with histories of community service and solid policy proposals. I don’t want anyone voting for me solely because of my sexual orientation. I want 27th District residents to support me because they believe in the principles for which I stand and what I want to accomplish in office. (And having knocked on the doors of over 2,500 Democratic district voters, we hear time and again that they do.)
This election season, I urge voters more than anything to consider the histories and proposed policies of Delaware State Legislature candidates. But I also urge voters to consider the issues associated with minimal diversity in our elected bodies, and the importance of diversity among state legislators as we both identify and work towards solving our problems.
Eric Morrison
Democratic candidate
Delaware State House of Representatives for the 27th District, in the Newark/Bear/Glasgow area
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