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Letter: Senator Lopez asks for support Nov. 6

November 2, 2018

2012 was a year of change.  Due to our rapid population growth, the Cape Region was awarded a new state Senate District, and I was fortunate enough to win a competitive general election to be elected as the first state senator from the new 6th District.    

In 2014, I was re-elected with overwhelming bipartisan support to a full four-year term and  today, I humbly ask for your support for re-election to a new four-year term in order to continue the positive direction in which we are traveling here locally and as a state.  

Since my election as your state senator and on your behalf, I have:

• Voted yes to support equal pay legislation for women in the workplace

• Voted yes to support the Equal Rights Amendment to the Delaware Constitution

• Voted yes to make Delaware the first state to ban child marriage

• Sponsored legislation to allow children access to prescription medicinal cannabis, Rylie’s Law, which is healing our kids and saving lives

• Voted yes to ban the harmful practice of conversion therapy 

• Voted yes to give parents the right to have paid family leave after the birth of a child

• Sponsored legislation banning offshore drilling from our precious beaches and protecting our clean water

• Voted yes to keep firearms out of the hands of those who should not have them by co-sponsoring the Beau Biden Gun Violence Prevention Act

• Fought for full capital funding of our local public schools, including the new Sussex Consortium, in order to support our students and teachers

• Supported a quarter of a million dollars for the new Lewes Trailhead, and millions more for new bike and walking trails in the Cape Region

• Secured state funding for the new Children’s Wing at the Lewes History Museum

• Served on the Route 1 Pedestrian Safety Task Force which put sidewalks up and down Route 1 from Nassau to Dewey in order to enhance public safety, something critics said would never be done

• Opposed rampant overdevelopment projects such as the mega Overbrook Town Center, and refused campaign contributions from lobbyists and land-use attorneys who supported it  

• Most importantly, in addressing our region’s most serious challenge, I voted yes for a transportation revenue package that will be bringing $1 billon in new transportation and infrastructure funding to Sussex County over the next six years. 

Friends, there is so much more that we have done, and we have done it together with a commitment to bipartisanship and responsible governance.  My Senate record is one that reflects the balance we need in our state and in our country - a thoughtful, inclusive balance built from a common center of mutual respect, and treating all with dignity and kindness. 

The commitment my Senate staff and I have made to focus on local constituent service is second to none, and I thank you all for the trust you have placed in me thus far, and I ask for your continued support and your vote on Election Day in order to continue the work we started together six years ago. 

Elections are about the future, and not about the past.  Let’s win this election, not just for those of us here today, but for all of us to share together in the tomorrows still to come.   

Dr. Ernesto B. “Ernie” Lopez
state senator, District 6
Lewes

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