National Agenda

Comedian, writer, and Ph.D. candidate Amberia Allen examined why "humor matters," especially in this political era, in the October 24, 2018, installment of National Agenda's Midterms Matter speaker series. Allen, who boasts an impressive resume not only as a comedian but also as a Ph.D. candidate studying sociology with a focus on race and gender, said that sometimes you just have to roll with the chaos.

Just 20 days before the 2018 elections, which some political observers see as potentially the most significant midterms in decades, candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives met to debate at the University of Delaware. The pair of debates on Wednesday evening, Oct. 17, in UD’s Mitchell Hall featured the major-party candidates for one of Delaware’s Senate seats and for its only seat in the House. In each race, an incumbent Democrat is seeking re-election against a Republican challenger. U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, a first-term member of Congress, is facing Scott Walker in the House race. In the Senate contest, three-term incumbent Tom Carper is challenged by Rob Arlett. Delaware Debates 2018, a joint initiative of UD’s Center for Political Communication (CPC) and Delaware Public Media, was live-streamed and broadcast live nationally on C-SPAN and in some regional media outlets.

Just 20 days before the 2018 elections, which some political observers see as potentially the most significant midterms in decades, candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives met to debate at the University of Delaware. The pair of debates on Wednesday evening, Oct. 17, in UD’s Mitchell Hall featured the major-party candidates for one of Delaware’s Senate seats and for its only seat in the House. In each race, an incumbent Democrat is seeking re-election against a Republican challenger. U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, a first-term member of Congress, is facing Scott Walker in the House race. In the Senate contest, three-term incumbent Tom Carper is challenged by Rob Arlett. Delaware Debates 2018, a joint initiative of UD’s Center for Political Communication (CPC) and Delaware Public Media, was live-streamed and broadcast live nationally on C-SPAN and in some regional media outlets.

In the third installment of National Agenda's Midterm Matters speakers series, 16-year-old political journalist explained why young voices matter. Fleisher writes Wake Up To Politics, a popular daily political newsletter that began as an email he sent to his mom to update her on what was happening in the world and what was on the schedules of America's political leaders. Fast forward to today and over 50,000 people receive Gabe's daily email.

Lauren Duca kicked off the first event of the National Agenda: Midterm Matters 2018 speaker series, hosted on September 12 by the University of Delaware's Center for Political Communication and held at Mitchell Hall Auditorium. Lauren Duca is an award-winning journalist best known for her 2016 Teen Vogue op-ed “Donald Trump is Gaslighting America” and a contentious viral interview with Fox’s Tucker Carlson. Her writing can be found in the New York Times, the New Yorker, and New York magazine, as well as in her ongoing column for Teen Vogue, “Thigh-High Politics.​"

The University of Delaware welcomed back to campus alumnus and 2015 commencement speaker Dave DeWalt (EG ’86), who spoke about cybersecurity as part of the National Agenda's 2018 speaker series, "Midterm Matters." DeWalt is widely considered one of the most influential executives in technology and cybersecurity. He was named one of the 25 most influential executives in high technology by the readers of the industry publication CRN. He has spoken about cybersecurity at the World Economic Forum and was appointed in 2011 by President Barack Obama to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Council. This program was cosponsored by UD's Cybersecurity Initiative.

AUGUST 30, 2018―The University of Delaware Center for Political Communication, in partnership with Delaware Public Media (www.delawarepublic.org), explores the national and local issues emerging with the upcoming midterm election. On this episode, Delaware Public Media news director Tom Byrne is joined by the UDCPC's Associate Director and National Agenda series director Dr. Lindsay Hoffman and Eric Hastings, a second-year Masters of Public Administration student at UD. He's also a Research Assistant and Legislative Fellow in UD’s Institute for Public Administration and Co-Creator of the Make It Count Campaign, the student-led initiative under the Biden Institute. They discuss the growing diversity of candidates on the ballot in this midterm election cycle, the possibility of a "blue wave" result handing Democrats control of the U.S. House, the Make It Count Campaign's work to engage student voters at UD and the latest on the upcoming Delaware primary election, including the U.S. Senate primary between Sen. Tom Carper and Kerri Harris.

As part of Delaware Debates 2018, Delaware Public Media presents Candidate Conversations in collaboration with the University of Delaware's Center for Political Communication. Delaware Public Media is interviewing all candidates who have filed to run in the races for U.S. House and U.S. Senate, as well as the races for State Attorney General, State Auditor and State Treasurer. Candidates in each race will answer the same set of questions to allow Delaware voters to get to know them and compare them.

In the race for State Auditor, four candidates are running to replace Republican Tom Wagner, who announced he is retiring after three decades in that office. Democrats Kathleen Davies, Kathy McGuiness and Dennis Williams will face off in a September primary to decide who will join Republican James Spadola on the November General Election ballot.

Dennis Williams is a former State Representative, representing the 10th District in Northern New Castle County for six years (2009-2015) before losing a 2014 Democratic primary to current State Rep. Sean Matthews. He lost to Matthews again in a 2016 Democratic primary for that seat. Williams also ran twice and lost races Delaware’s U.S House seat in the late 1990s.

As part of Delaware Debates 2018, Delaware Public Media presents Candidate Conversations in collaboration with the University of Delaware's Center for Political Communication. Delaware Public Media is interviewing all candidates who have filed to run in the races for U.S. House and U.S. Senate, as well as the races for State Attorney General, State Auditor and State Treasurer. Candidates in each race will answer the same set of questions to allow Delaware voters to get to know them and compare them.

In the race for State Auditor, four candidates are running to replace Republican Tom Wagner, who announced he is retiring after three decades in that office. Democrats Kathleen Davies, Kathy McGuiness and Dennis Williams will face off in a September primary to decide who will join Republican James Spadola on the November General Election ballot.

James Spadola is running for statewide office for the first time, but the former Newark police officer previously ran for the 1st District State Senate seat in 2016. He lost to incumbent Democrat Harris McDowell in that North Wilmington district by a 56 to 44 percent margin.

As part of Delaware Debates 2018, Delaware Public Media presents Candidate Conversations in collaboration with the University of Delaware's Center for Political Communication. Delaware Public Media is interviewing all candidates who have filed to run in the races for U.S. House and U.S. Senate, as well as the races for State Attorney General, State Auditor and State Treasurer. Candidates in each race will answer the same set of questions to allow Delaware voters to get to know them and compare them.

In the race for Delaware Attorney General, incumbent Democrat Matt Denn chose not to run for another term. That prompted four Democrats to throw their hats in the ring to replace him. Kathy Jennings, Chris Johnson, Tim Mullaney, and LaKresha Roberts will face off in a Democratic primary next month. There is currently no Republican on the ballot after Peggy Marshall Thomas dropped out of the race in mid-August, but state GOP officials say they are looking for someone to step in and run. They have until Sept. 4 to name a new candidate.

This is LaKresha Roberts' first run for elected office. She was a Deputy Attorney General under then Attorney General Beau Biden, and has served under current AG Matt Denn as both head of the Family Division and then Chief Deputy Attorney General.