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Mike Harrington was elected as Chairman of the Delaware Republican Party at day two of the 2017 Delaware Republican Convention at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino in Dover.(Photo: Jason Minto, The News Journal)Buy Photo

The Delaware Republican Party elected new leaders Saturday who promised to help break the Democrats' stranglehold on statewide politics.

"We must restore the Republican Party to its rightful role in affecting the decisions that directly touch our families," said Michael Harrington, who was elected chairman on Saturday. "One-party rule has not been good to Delaware."

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A Dover-area real estate agent and businessman, Harrington has been active in Republican campaigns for decades. He is a former state representative and he served as Kent County chair of President Donald Trump's campaign, lending a storefront he owns to the campaign.

Harrington was not the only new leader picked Saturday. The party also got a new vice chair, Emily Taylor.

Emily Taylor gives her acceptance speech after being elected to Vice Chair of the Delaware Republican Party at day two of the 2017 Delaware Republican Convention at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino in Dover.(Photo: Jason Minto, The News Journal)

Taylor, 29, has worked on numerous campaigns over the past few years. At age 23, she ran state Sen. Colin Bonini's campaign for state treasurer, which fell just two percentage points short of winning.

Taylor's election was the only contested one Saturday. Originally, only two-time U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Wade was in the running, but Bonini abruptly nominated Taylor.

She won the votes of 149 delegates, with 102 voting for Wade.

The party also got a new treasurer, Dennis Cini. Carol Bodine will remain secretary.

Saturday's GOP convention took place on the 100th day of Trump's tenure. Many national pundits and prognosticators have given him a harsh assessment of those first days, but that negativity didn't penetrate the walls of Dover Downs.

Not only is Trump in the White House, attendees noted, but Republicans also enjoy majorities in both the House and the Senate. And a conservative judge, Neal Gorsuch, is newly seated on the Supreme Court.

Republicans have also dominated state-level elections across the country. The party holds the legislature and governor's seat in 24 states, compared with only six states run fully by Democrats.

Delaware is one of those Democratic strongholds. Republicans were unable to take control of either chamber of the General Assembly last year, and Democrats convincingly won the statewide races for governor, lieutenant governor and Congress.

Still, some Republicans at the convention Saturday saw a reason for optimism about state politics.

The GOP narrowed the Democrats' majority in the state Senate to 11-10, after Republican Anthony Delcollo defeated former Senate President Pro Tempore Patricia Blevins in a heavily Democratic district.

"We can win in districts where we can have an advantage, we can win in districts where it's 50-50, and we can win in districts where we're heavily outnumbered," said outgoing party Chairman Charlie Copeland, who is leaving to head the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a national nonprofit dedicated to building conservative values among college students.

Charlie Copeland, Chairman of the Delaware Republican Party welcomes everyone to day two of the 2017 Delaware Republican Convention at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino in Dover.(Photo: Jason Minto, The News Journal)

Downstate Republicans, in particular, are riding high. Only one Democrat, Speaker of the House Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth, is left in a Sussex County elected office. And Donald Trump won both Kent and Sussex counties, even though Hillary Clinton carried Delaware.

"Forthe first time in the history of the state, Republicans outnumber Democrats in Sussex County," Copeland said, to big cheers from the county delegation.

In his farewell speech, Copeland identified three main obstacles the party will need to overcome.

The first ispublic sector employee unions, which Copelandsaid unfairly get government help raising money that is spent to back Democrats.

The second is the fact that African-Americans, who make up almost a quarter of the state's population,vote about 95 percent Democratic. That effectively means the party's statewide candidates are starting more than 20 points behind Democrats, Copeland said.

The third problem for Republicans, Copeland argued, is the media.

"The news media, particularly the news media north of the canal, is absolutely in the tank for the other side," he said.

Copeland said the media didn't do enough to hold Democrats to account for what he called anemiceconomic growth during former Gov. Jack Markell's tenure. He criticized The News Journal for writing frequent "puff pieces" aboutformer Vice President Joe Biden.

Harrington said he plans to arm Republicans with the latest technology to win elections and help them raise money to compete with well-funded Democrats.

He said the party needs to convince independent and Democratic voters to consider the GOP, noting that "a failing school affects a Democrat just as much as it affects a Republican."

And he hinted at a more hard-nosed approach.

"We're gonna break a few eggs," Harrington said. "It means spelling out the truth of what's broken in Delaware."

Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@delawareonline.com, (302) 324-2428 or on Twitter @TNJ_malbright.

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New Delaware Republican leaders named - The News Journal - The News Journal