State Treasurer Colleen Davis enters race for Delaware's US House seat

Colleen Davis, state treasurer, announced Wednesday that she will run for Delaware’s at-large U.S. House of Representatives seat.

Davis will face off against state Sen. Sarah McBride, who announced her candidacy last month and has pulled in significant fundraising money already. Eugene Young, director of the Delaware State Housing Authority, has also expressed interest in the seat.

U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester is running for U.S. Senate following U.S. Sen. Tom Carper’s retirement announcement earlier this summer. Blunt Rochester did not say if she would endorse a candidate in the primary.

“Raising three children here in Delaware,” Davis said in an interview, “ I think that we need more leaders in Congress who come from working-class situations as I did growing up.

“And truly, I'm focused on fighting for families and keeping them safe and secure.”

Who is Colleen Davis?

Davis, 43, was largely unknown in Delaware before she ran for treasurer in 2018, defeating Republican incumbent Ken Simpler. She is also one of the rare statewide elected Democrats from Sussex County.

Davis, a former physician assistant and health care consultant, at the time earned the backing from the Democratic state party and key union endorsements. She was also among the wave of women elected into office in 2018.

Some controversy swirled around the treasurer, just after her 2018 win, regarding her driving on a suspended license for other traffic offenses. The matter was later resolved with her paying a small fee.

Davis won reelection in 2022. She didn’t face a Democratic primary challenger in either election.

A focus on family

Davis’ announcement on Wednesday centered on her childhood, specifically when her father’s company “fell victim to fraud and went bankrupt." She said her family lost their home and all of their belongings. They moved from rental home to rental home over the years.

The Delaware Way: Who is running for office in 2024? Our updated list of Delaware candidates, announcements

“That struggle doesn’t define me, but it has driven me to help prevent other families from falling through the cracks,” Davis said in her announcement. 

The treasurer pointed to the creation of the DE EARNS program, which provides access to low-cost retirement savings plans, as one of her major accomplishments. She also noted the expansion of ABLE accounts, which are savings accounts for people with disabilities, as well as supporting the availability of more financial services for people living in south Wilmington and the Route 9 corridor.

Davis said she also has worked with the federal delegation on different policy items, naming the funding from the American Rescue Plan as an example.

She will likely be the only statewide elected official to run in this race, which Davis said has allowed her to meet people “in the throes of the challenges that the pandemic brought us.”

“It comes down to ensuring that we're sending someone to D.C. who has a record of fighting for families and helping the most vulnerable – and doing it in a way that's tangible,” she said.

“That's certainly something that I have focused on over the last five years.”

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: State Treasurer Colleen Davis to run for Delaware's US House seat