Matthew Albright

The News Journal

Delaware Democrats are flexing all their political muscle in the Feb. 25 special election, calling in party titans like former Vice President Joe Biden and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.

They know that if Stephanie Hansen loses the race for the Middletown, Glasgow and southern Newark seat in the state Senate, their party would lose control of the Senate for the first time in 44 years.

“This woman gets it,” Biden said, putting an arm around Hansen on a campaign stage Monday night. “The action for the next two years to defend the rights of working people, the rights of women, the rights of minorities, the rights of LGBT people, people counting on Medicaid, they are going to have to be defended and protected by the states. And people like Stephanie are the ones who are going to do it."

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Biden, Gov. John Carney and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley all have either spoken at events or personally knocked on doors for Hansen in the past week.

Democrats are matching their star power with financial support. On top of the $64,339 Hansen's campaign spent between Jan. 1 and Jan. 26, a political action committee called First State Strong has dropped more than $186,000 in support of Hansen, and more spending is likely over the next two weeks.

That money has funded an arsenal of mailers, phone banks and digital advertising.

Hansen said the outpouring shows her supporters don't want Democrats to lose their hold on Delaware after losing state and federal races across the country last fall.

"The support I've received has been extraordinary," Hansen said. "At every event, if we expect 50 people we'll get 100; if we expect 100, we'll get 200."

Republicans see Democrats' offensive, particularly the campaign spending, as a desperate push to preserve one-party rule in Delaware. On Monday, several of them accused Democrats of trying to "buy the election."

"I understand that she's got money coming from all over the place, I understand she has these celebrity politicians who have been in office forever," Marino said of Hansen. "Voters want change. All I can do is keep going up and down this district talking about the issues and about how I will be that change."

Republicans also are opening their wallets for Marino, but they are badly outgunned by the Democrats.

Marino's campaign spent $30,766 and had $67,964 in his war chest during the first reporting period. A third-party advertiser, First State First, also has spent $29,067 so far this year, a fraction of the Democrats' six-figure operation.

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Delaware Republican Party Chairman Charlie Copeland blasted the spending through the First State Strong PAC in a news release Monday, saying it was obviously a way for big-league Democratic donors to support Hansen beyond the $600 contribution limit for her campaign.

He called the group "shadowy" noting that Delawareans won't know who donated until next year. Campaigns have to file finance reports 30 and 8 days before each election, but PACs only have to file once a year; First State Strong was created on Jan. 5, so it won't file a report until next January.

The only name listed on filing documents is Treasurer Michael Finnegan, who did not respond to calls seeking comment on Monday.

The State GOP filed a complaint with the Department of Elections on Monday claiming that First State Strong has violated election laws by illegally coordinating with Hansen's campaign. If a PAC spends money on materials that explicitly urge votes for a candidate — or against a candidate's opponent — the PAC is not allowed to coordinate with that candidate's campaign.

“We will not know who paid for these ads until January 20, 2018, at the earliest, but I can guarantee that they’re being coordinated with the Hansen campaign,” said Copeland. “And the Elections Commissioner is duty bound to investigate this shadowy PAC and find the truth. It’s time for these people to reveal who is trying to buy this election and Stephanie Hansen should be demanding this information be released publicly instead of trying to ride a wave of secret money into office.”

Hansen's campaign manager, Erik Raser-Schramm, said in an e-mail that Copeland's accusation of illegal collaboration is "absurd on its face."

"Cycle after cycle, Charlie Copeland and John Marino shamelessly hurl accusations for which they have no evidence," Raser-Schramm wrote. "Copeland and Marino are constantly picking these partisan fights, while Stephanie is out fighting for working families, higher wages, and our kids' success at school. Voters will see the difference."

The goal of the campaign spending and high-profile endorsements is simple: get the parties' voters to the polls.

Historically, voter turnout is much smaller in "off-year" special elections than major general elections. That means campaigns usually focus on energizing their base, rather than persuading undecideds.

Biden said Hillary Clinton lost November's presidential race by a mere 173,000 voters in a handful of states. The way to prevent that kind of loss, he argued, is to make sure Democrats get back to their middle-class roots.

"We've got to get back to talking about this again, that ordinary people can do extraordinary things given an even chance," Biden said. "[Hansen] gets it, you get it, we Democrats get it."

O'Malley, who sought the Democratic nomination for president last year, had a similar message when he gave a speech Saturday, firing up volunteers who were canvassing for Hansen.

"When you're out there knocking on doors for Stephanie, know that you're knocking on doors for their country that we care about, that country that says everybody gets a fair shot," O'Malley said. "Fight as if the future of our country depends on it, because it just might."

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