Delaware election 2026: Your Democratic primary voter guide for attorney general

During her decades in the office, she served in several roles, including chief deputy attorney general, the No. 2 post, and chief state prosecutor. Just prior to winning the top post, she worked outside the office as chief administrative officer under New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer, who is now Delaware’s governor.

Jennings first ran for political office in 2018, winning 57% of the vote in a four-candidate primary and taking 61% of the ballots in the general election against Republican Bernard Pepukayi.

In 2022, Jennings was unopposed for the Democratic nomination and defeated Republican Julianne Murray in the general election with 54% of the vote.

Jennings would not agree to an interview for this story or provide a reason why she declined, but campaign manager Carter Gramiak issued a statement on her behalf:

“She is running on a record of reducing violent crime and recidivism, the strongest corporate accountability record in the DOJ’s history, standing up to ICE, and taking on [President] Donald Trump and winning,” Gramiak’s statement said. “She has won or protected more than $1 billion for Delawareans since taking office and is running to keep winning fights that we can’t afford to lose.”

Although Jennings has joined with other state attorneys general to fight the Trump administration’s policies, challenger Patty Rickman said that “to be focused on out-of-state litigation when we have the crisis that is going on in Delaware, it’s not feasible to continue on in that direction.”

Likewise, fellow challenger Dwayne Bensing spoke out on Jennings’ shortcomings on civil rights, calling her efforts “abysmal.”

Jennings has been endorsed by Gov. Matt Meyer, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons and U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware, as well as the state Democratic Party. Her other endorsements include the Delaware Building & Construction Trades Council, the Delaware State Education Association, Emily’s List and the Delaware Sierra Club.

He pledged to continue that advocacy work as attorney general, and to focus on ensuring that everyone’s civil rights are protected, corporations are held accountable for misdeeds and the office exercises independent oversight of government agencies instead of just acting as their lawyer.

“We’ve had the DOJ serving as the government’s attorney rather than the people’s attorney, and we’ve had an attorney general who talks a lot about fighting Donald Trump, but her record of civil rights here in the first state is abysmal,” Bensing told WHYY News in an interview.

He cited her office’s defense of the state’s loitering and solicitation statutes after the ACLU sued over its constitutionality, only to eventually agree to halt enforcement of the law in settling the case.

“She spent years in litigation on that case before finally conceding that she would no longer enforce it,” Bensing said.

The challenger also said the attorney general is elected independently to uphold the law but not to be “swearing an oath to defend the governor and his appointees.”

While agencies have a right to be defended in a lawsuit, they can hire their own outside attorneys for that role if necessary, Bensing said, leaving the Attorney General’s Office to act “in the public interest.”

Bensing described himself as a progressive Democrat challenging the establishment represented by Jennings and other powerful politicians in the party.

“What we need is a civil rights attorney at the helm at the Department of Justice,” Bensing said. “She’s a prosecutor and so she doesn’t view it through the lens of, ‘what are the constitutional and civil rights of the people’ that she’s bound to protect.”

Bensing said he’d bring that sorely needed perspective.

“The problems we face today can’t be solved with yesterday’s playbook,” Bensing said. “So I bring fresh ideas, new guard energy to defend against the attacks on our democracy, both from the corporate ‘bro-ligarchy,’ the billionaire class and Trumpism.”

Bensing’s endorsements include ones from Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund and Delawareans for Palestinian Human Rights.

Why is she running to be the state’s chief law enforcement officer when she has no experience in the arena?

Rickman said the answer is simple: she’s not a vanity candidate but rather a domestic violence survivor whose own ordeal taught her that more needs to be done to protect victims of crime like herself.

She wouldn’t discuss her own situation or identify her assailant, except to say she was a victim of an attempted strangulation by a woman with whom she had a prior romantic relationship. She’s also an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, Rickman said.

“I saw firsthand that not only is Delaware’s criminal justice system known as catch and release, I’ve seen it from the inside out,’’ Rickman said. “To say it’s broken is putting it mildly. There were policies and procedures, laws that were not adhered to, through what I witnessed.”

Beyond working to ensure that the criminal justice system works for everybody, regardless of “how much money you have, who backed you, what machine backed you, who you know,” Rickman said she’d also focus on protecting consumers, especially older adults.

“I want to speak to consumer fraud,” noting her experience in appealing insurance health care denials. “There’s so many seniors that have many issues, between paying their prescription medication and paying for their groceries. And they shouldn’t have to do that. So, I want to speak for the seniors.”

Finding solutions to the propensity by younger residents to engage in violence is also a priority, she said.

The bottom line, Rickman said, is that a third term for Jennings is not the answer.

“I’ve spoken to hundreds of people and there’s not been one comment, not one, from anybody that’s impressed by Kathy Jennings,” Rickman said.

Rickman insisted that despite her lack of campaign funds and endorsements, her quest is not a quixotic one.

“There are so many in history that are the first,” she said, “and I’ll just be another one of the firsts that we have.”