Rollins announces run for U.S. House in Delaware

    Republican Michele Rollins says she’s running for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Congressman Mike Castle.

    Businesswoman and widow of a former Delaware Lieutenant Governor, Michele Rollins announced her plans Wednesday to run for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Mike Castle.

    Rollins’ announcement sets the stage for a four-way GOP primary in September.  Rollins, who married the late John Rollins, is the highest profile candidate now in the running.  She’ll face off against fellow Republicans Glen Urquhart, Rose Izzo, and Kevin WadeFred Cullis had been in the running, but now that Rollins is in, Cullis has dropped out and thrown his support behind her.  Former Lt. Governor John Carney and political newcomer Scott Spencer are running on the Democratic side.

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    The race to fill the seat held since 1993 by Congressman Castle has already drawn national attention.  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has targeted the race in it’s “Red to Blue” program.  Democrat John Carney is one of 13 candidates getting financial and structural support as the party tries to take control of seats that have been held by Republicans.  Delaware Democratic party leaders took aim at Rollins before she even entered the race.  Two weeks ago, party communications director Katie Ellis issued a statement criticizing Rollins for attending a Republican event that included a joke about the “birther” movement.  Ellis said, “It’s shocking that a candidate like Michelle Rollins- who would need to pull in a fair number of independent and even Democratic voters to win- would align herself with such a fringe movement.”

    Not to be outdone, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is already taking aim at Rollins’ opponent and touting their candidate’s credentials.  NRCC spokesman Andy Seré says, “First Staters are fiercely independent, and that’s how they like their leaders. That’s why we’re confident they’ll prove the pundits wrong when presented with this choice in the fall: a fiscal conservative in the Castle mold who can work across party lines to do what’s right for Delaware, or some shopworn political hack for whom Pelosi is the be-all, end-all.”

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