Ex-Dem lawmaker receives GOP nod in uphill race to challenge top Senate Democrat

Former Democratic state lawmaker Mike Katz won Delaware’s Republican Senate primary Tuesday, sending the state’s GOP-backed candidate into a November fight against the Democratic nominee for a seat Republicans have not won in more than three decades.

Katz defeated retired Army colonel John Shulli in the two-way Republican primary and will face three-term Democratic Sen. Chris Coons in the Nov. 3 general election.

Katz, a pediatric anesthesiologist and business owner, previously served in the Delaware state Senate as a Democrat after winning election to the chamber in 2008. He represented the state’s 4th Senate District until losing his re-election bid in 2012.

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The anesthesiologist has crossed party lines during his political career. Katz ran for U.S. Senate in 2024 as the Independent Party candidate, finishing third behind Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester and Republican Eric Hansen with about 4% of the vote. 

He later registered his 2026 Senate candidacy as a Republican, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Katz entered Tuesday’s contest as the Delaware Republican Party’s endorsed candidate. His campaign has focused on lowering the cost of living, reforming health care, protecting jobs in Delaware, and reducing federal spending, according to his campaign website.

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Katz characterized his move to the Republican Party as an alignment with long-held beliefs rather than a shift in his political views, telling FOX 29 that re-registering as a Republican “was not a change in principle” but an alignment with principles he had held for decades.

“Our campaign is building a coalition. A coalition of Republicans, Independents and Democratic voters to win this race in November to defeat Chris Coons,” Katz told supporters in an ad ahead of Tuesday’s primary.

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Katz will attempt to snap a decades-long losing streak for the party in Delaware Senate races. The GOP has not won a U.S. Senate election in the state since Republican Sen. William Roth won re-election in 1994.