Wade drops out; it's Rollins vs. Urquhart

Kevin Wade, an upstate Republican who had been campaigning for Delaware's seat in the House of Representatives since January, announced to staff last night that he was withdrawing from the race. In talking to various people throughout the last few months, I heard very few negative remarks about Mr. Wade; everyone agreed that he is clearly a good, principled man, even if they disagreed with his platform.

Wade's withdrawal is significant. I had predicted that, if Wade remained in the race, he and Glen Urquhart would split the conservative vote in the September 14 primary election, thus enabling Michele Rollins (who is much less conservative, to say the least) to win with the remaining majority. It was my assumption that Wade would drop out, if only to improve Urquhart's chances of defeating the party favorite.

With Wade gone, Glen Urquhart can now focus on winning a majority of Republican votes (not that he wasn't already working on that). Being as he is from Sussex County, where the majority of Republicans in the state reside, this is very possible, though it won't be easy. The Rollins campaign is a well-funded machine, and it would be foolish to assume that, simply because she is an upstate candidate, her advisors don't recognize the need to woo Sussex.