The man many expected would be the next U.S Senator from Delaware has his own thoughts on Tuesday night’s 2010 midterm results in Delaware and nationally. DFM News caught up with U.S . Representative Mike Castle Wednesday morning in Wilmington where he was lending his support to initiatives in the city’s LOMA (Lower Market Street) district.
Castle says he remains “content” with his decision not to pursue a write in campaign after losing to Christine O’Donnell in September’s Republican primary saying it would have been “highly disruptive to my own party,” but admits Democrat Chris Coons’ resounding win over O’Donnell Tuesday night and other factors have him wondering “what if?”
“With the results as they turned out, with poll results as recently as last week showing I was 21 points ahead of Mr. Coons, with Lisa Murkowski apparently winning (her U.S. Senate race as a write-in candidate) in Alaska, it does make you wonder if that was the right decision,” said Castle. “I’ll always question that. I’ll go to my grave questioning whether I should have done that or not.”
Castle will finish out his ninth term in the U.S House later this month when Congress convenes for its “lame duck” session November 15th. He did not have high expectations for that session going into election day. Based on Tuesday night’s results, Castle says he now has “no expectations at all.”
“I can’t imagine the Democrats in the House who were humiliated across the country in this election will be willing to push any kind of liberal agenda,” said Castle. “What I think you’re going to see are continuing resolutions and that kind of thing and very little real business in the two weeks of lame duck session.”
Congressman Castle respects the knowledge of government his successor in Delaware’s lone U.S. House seat, Democrat John Carney, brings to the table. He hopes Carney will be “cognizant of the fact that a lot of Republicans were elected and he’ll have to deal with them” and strive to be independent.
Discussing his future, Castle says he’s “just looking for a job right now” and has some feelers to follow up on. He remains concerned about the Republican party and how it bridges the gap between its conservative and moderate wings. “If you’re going to be a political party, you have to embrace both. That’s what Republicans had better do or we’re not going to win elections in the future in Delaware.”
Asked if he would consider running for elected office again, Castle responded, “Never say never. You never know what’s going to happen, but at this point I have no plans to run for anything.”
You can hear the entire interview with Castle here.
