Newcomer Anthony Delcollo looks to bring fresh ideas to Delaware Senate

Republican Anthony Delcollo won the race for State Senator in Delaware’s 7th district, upsetting incumbent Patricia Blevins, D-Elsmere.

Thirty-one-year-old Anthony Delcollo paced back and forth, awaiting his fate in his first election on Tuesday night.

Going into his campaign for state senator in Delaware’s 7th district, the Republican attorney with no political experience was the underdog.

But Delcollo’s anxiety was relieved when he learned he received a 1 percent lead over incumbent Senate President Pro Tempore Patricia Blevins, D-Elsmere, who had served in the Senate since 1990.

Delcollo was the only newcomer to beat an incumbent in General Assembly races.

“[I felt] a strange mixture I’ve never felt before—euphoria, a deep sense of honor, a deep sense of being humbled by the incredible outpouring of support from folks in my community, and finally, a deep sense of responsibility,” he said.

“I have this great level of faith that’s been placed on me by so many good people in my area and thinking how I will move forward to live up to and hopefully exceed the faith folks have placed in me.”

Delcollo said he credits his early start on the campaign trail, his effort to reach out to his constituents and a supportive team to his success. He said as he and his legislative colleagues work together to face a potential $300 million deficit in the state, he will attempt to change the way state government addresses economic issues.

“My priority is to make sure as we make decisions we do it in a manner that’s very intelligent, recognizes a lot of the challenges we have in our communities, for example, with things like addiction, things like violent crime, in a manner that doesn’t just look at simply, ‘How do we raise revenue?’ or, ‘How do we tighten our belts and cut services?’” Delcollo said.

“To the contrary, ‘How do we change the paradigm in a manner that allows us to plan ahead, allows us to more intelligently look at the manner at which these things transpire?’ and frankly, how we take Delaware, instead of engaging in slicing pies into tinnier slices, that we start baking pies and putting Delaware back to work in great jobs and creating an opportunity to move forward where we can absorb some of these difficulties we face.”