Despite losing gubernatorial primary, Del. Lt. Gov. Hall-Long will still get stint as governor

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This story was supported by a statehouse coverage grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Despite losing this month’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, Delaware Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long will still get to fulfill her longtime ambition and become the state’s 75th governor.

But her tenure will only last for two weeks.

Then either Democrat Matt Meyer or Republican Mike Ramone will assume command of the state government and its more than $6 billion budget.

So how does a candidate who finished a distant second in a three-way primary after enduring harsh scrutiny for repeatedly breaking campaign finance laws ascend to the state’s highest office, if only for a brief spell?

She can thank Gov. John Carney, whose fervent support of her candidacy to succeed him didn’t quite succeed.

Carney will become mayor of Wilmington on Jan. 7, and will have to resign the governorship to take the helm of Delaware’s largest city.

Delaware doesn’t inaugurate its governor until the third Tuesday in January, which this year falls on Jan. 21.

Under the Delaware Constitution, the lieutenant governor is first in line of succession if the governor resigns.

So come Jan. 7, Gov. Bethany Hall-Long will take the oath of office.

Her husband Dana Long, whose management of her campaign funds triggered the turmoil in her gubernatorial campaign, will also become Delaware’s first “first gentleman.”

And then on Jan. 21, the 61-year-old politician will be out of elective office for the first time since 2002, when she was first elected to the state House. Hall-Long later won a state Senate seat and has been lieutenant governor since 2017.

Though her gubernatorial tenure will be oh-so-brief, Hall-Long will be the second woman to occupy the office — the late Ruth Ann Minner held the post from 2001 to 2009. She’ll also enhance her family’s legacy: Ancestor David Hall was the state’s 15th governor, from 1802 to 1805.

Hall-Long will become the fourth Delaware lieutenant governor to be a placeholder governor under the resignation-for-a-new-office scenario.

In January 2001, Lt. Gov. Minner took office early after predecessor Tom Carper had to resign early to take the oath of office for U.S. Senate.

In January 1993, Gov. Mike Castle resigned early to take office as Delaware’s lone member of the U.S. House of Representatives, so Lt. Gov. Dale Wolf became governor.

And in Jauary 1961, Lt. Gov. Dave Buckson became the state’s chief executive when Gov. J. Caleb Boggs resigned to join the U.S. Senate.

Hall-Long would not agree to an interview about her future ascent to the role she has long coveted.

Instead, Hall-Long’s spokeswoman Jen Rini said in a statement, “As second-in-command in the state, she is ready to continue her duty to serve Delaware in all capacities constitutionally mandated.”

Carney also wouldn’t comment on his handpicked successor getting to occupy the office for two weeks.

But Ashley Dawson, Carney’s spokeswoman, said the “governor’s office will be prepared to handle any unique transitions or timelines.” She said details would be provided after the Nov. 5 general election, in which Democratic primary winner Carney has no opponent in his quest to become Wilmington’s mayor.

“The governor is focused on running through the tape of his second term,’’ Dawson said of Carney’s sprint that’s destined to end two weeks ahead of the usual timetable. “There is plenty of work to do for the people of Delaware between now and January.”

Hall-Long’s governorship will overlap for three days with the General Assembly’s winter session that begins Jan. 14, but Democratic state Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton of the Bear area expects her to play only a ceremonial role. Bills rarely pass or are even introduced during the opening days of a legislative session.

“I wouldn’t expect anything out of the ordinary,’’ Wilson-Anton said. “I think she’ll probably not make many waves,  but she’ll be governor so I guess she could try to get something done. But I would be surprised.”

Wilson-Anton had called for Hall-Long to drop out of the race in early August after a state Department of Elections report concluded that she broke the law with unreported payments to then–campaign treasurer Dana Long. Hall-Long has characterized nearly $300,000 in checks her husband wrote to himself as loans to pay campaign bills from 2017 to 2023. Attorney General Kathy Jennings declined to seek criminal charges against the lieutenant governor and her husband.

Wilson-Anton expects Hall-Long’s time as governor to be bittersweet at best for Hall-Long, and expects that primary winner Meyer will win the general election over the GOP’s Ramone in a state where Democrats hold all nine statewide elective offices.

“It is kind of like a sick twist of fate,” Wilson-Anton said. “Obviously she’s aspired to be the governor, and for her to get that wish and then basically have to pass it off to the guy that beat her in the primary is kind of brutal.”