Stephanie Hansen

Stephanie Leigh (Thomas) Hansen (born July 24, 1961^[1]) is an American politician elected to the Delaware State Senate as a Democrat. She was born in Limestone, Maine; currently she lives in Middletown, at the south end of the 10th State Senate District.^[2] In 2017 she won a special election to fill the seat of Bethany Hall-Long, who had resigned to take office as the state's lieutenant governor.

Prior to being elected to the state senate, she had served a single term as president of the New Castle County Council. Her earlier career as an environmental scientist with Delaware's state government led her to attend law school. Since obtaining her degree in that field she has been an environmental lawyer with two Delaware firms, most recently Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor in Wilmington.

Early life

Hansen was born in Limestone, Maine at Loring Air Force Base in 1961 while her father was serving in the U.S. Air Force. Her family was from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, but later moved to Seaford in 1963 when her father was employed by the DuPont company. She graduated from Seaford Senior High School in 1979.^[3] She later attended the University of Delaware and earned a bachelor of science degree in Geology. After graduating, she earned a master of science degree in Earth Science from the University of New Orleans.^[4]

Career

Starting in 1988, Hansen worked as an environmental scientist and hydrologist for the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. She worked in the agency's Superfund and Underground Storage Tank branches.^[4]

Two years after beginning her work for the state, she started and led the Bear/Glasgow Council of Civic Organizations, based on a local civic organization she had also founded to get school bus service for her neighborhood.^[3] In 1996 she was elected president of New Castle County Council, the only at-large position on that body, after successfully challenging incumbent^[5] Theodore Ryan for the Democratic nomination in that year's primary.^[6] During her tenure she helped shape the county's land use code.^[4]

Hansen also began to transition her career from science to law. She began taking law classes at Widener University School of Law, eventually graduating cum laude. During her studies she also interned at the Mid-Atlantic Environmental Law Clinic.^[4] In 2000 she decided not to seek re-election as Council President; Chris Coons, Delaware's current junior U.S. Senator, succeeded her. However, she remained politically active as the chair of her local Democratic committee. After her admission to the Delaware bar, she practiced environmental law at the firm of Richards, Layton & Finger for four years.^[7]

Hansen left Richards Layton in 2005 for Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor. She told political reporter Celia Cohen that not only was she tired of being the "token Democrat" at the predominantly Republican firm, she realized that most of her work was on projects either rejected by Young Conaway, Delaware's second largest firm, or from which it had to recuse itself due to conflicts of interest, so she was probably better off working there. At Young Conaway she has specialized in legal matters concerning environmentally-degraded properties;^[8] she also represented local governments on federal Civil Rights Act and Fair Housing Act issues.^[4]

2017 Senate special election

After Bethany Hall-Long was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor on January 17, 2017, Governor John C. Carney, Jr. declared a special election to fill her vacancy on February 25. A month prior, in preparation for Hall-Long's resignation, local Democrats unanimously selected Hansen as their nominee from a field of six potential candidates.^[9] The election took on more significance than the average state senate race for a couple of a reasons. For one, the 21-member Delaware Senate was, at the time, filled with 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans. While Democrats remained in control of the senate (and the state's trifecta) after the 2016 election due to the tie-breaking vote of Lieutenant Governor Hall-Long, a Republican victory would have secured Republicans control of the chamber for the first time in over four decades, effectively ending complete Democratic control of the legislative agenda. On a national level, the race stood out as one of the first since Donald Trump took office.^[10]

With so much national focus on the race, Democrats raised and spent a record shattering $1 million.^[11] Hansen herself raised more than $300,000 over the course of three weeks, six times that of her opponent;^[12] much of it came from 14,000 donations under $100, from all 50 states.^[13] Former Vice President and U.S. Senator Joe Biden took a visible role in the campaign by fundraising, appearing in ads and even going door-to-door with Hansen.^[12] Other prominent volunteers included Carney and former Maryland governor and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley.^[14]

Hansen was endorsed by the Delaware State AFL-CIO, Delaware Building Trades, Delaware United, Delaware State Education Association,^[15] District Council of Delaware Laborers, Mary Ann's List, Barbara Gittings Delaware Stonewall Democrats and the Chinese American Community of Delaware.^[16]

Hansen's campaign focused on a multitude of issues including the cost of living for seniors, the current addiction epidemic as well as improving schools and making college more affordable.^[17] Her campaign manager, Erik Schramm, emphasized the challenge of "highlight[ing] local issues while harnessing the national mood to excite volunteers."^[13] The two overlapped, as Hansen said that many of the voters she talked to were watching television coverage of the protests against the new administration when she came to their homes.^[12]

There was swift, widespread reaction upon Hansen's victory, including from newly-elected Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez: "Great work. We kept the majority in Delaware. Let's keep the momentum going, this is only the beginning."^[18]

While special elections generally see less voter participation, turnout was 35.3%, higher than 2014's midterm between Marino and Hall-Long.^[19]

See also

• List of Delaware State Senators
• List of environmental lawyers

References