Alex Green Challenges Michael Smith in Delaware District 22 House Race

Democratic newcomer Alex Green is running against incumbent Republican Michael Smith for the District 22 state House seat as Smith pursues a fifth term in the legislature.

The District 22 Contenders and the Legislative Landscape

District 22 encompasses North Star and parts of Pike Creek and Hockessin. Green, who lives in the Mendenhall Village neighborhood in Hockessin, works as a land surveyor. He said he is involved in the community through his church and is active in Democratic politics, serving as secretary of the District 22 Representative District Committee. He initially was planning to run for the seat in two years.

“Then no one stepped up in 2026, so I decided to step up and get started early,” Green said.

With more registered Democrats than Republicans, District 22 has long been targeted by Democrats hoping to secure the single seat needed to achieve a two-thirds supermajority in the House across multiple election cycles. Despite the voter registration advantage favoring the GOP, Smith has successfully defended his seat, cruising to a 10-point triumph during the 2024 campaign. Expressing optimism, Green believes that 2024 marks the turning point for Democrats in District 22 and feels local voters are prepared for a change from Smith.

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“I’m the same age as him, or just about the same age as him, when he first won,” Green, 32, said. “He’s been in the legislature for eight years. He says he’s going to retire in two. My whole point, is why wait.”

Smith is a Pike Creek native and a graduate of Wilmington Christian School and the University of Delaware. He lives in the Lamatan neighborhood in North Star with his wife and three young sons. He was first elected in 2018, replacing the retiring Rep. Joe Miro.

“I think my work ethic speaks for itself,” Smith said. “I think generally people in my district like me because I don’t make things political. I just work really hard and bring the service side to public service.”

The Chamber of Commerce Role and Conflict Debate

Following his recent appointment as the incoming president of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce earlier in the month, Smith indicated that while he intends to complete his upcoming term if re-elected, he will likely not pursue another term in 2028.

Democrats and the Delaware Coalition for Open Government have criticized Smith, arguing that his new position creates a conflict of interest regarding legislation that impacts the business community he is now compensated to represent.

“I think it’s a conflict,” Green said. “I also think that a lot of credible people have come out speaking that it’s a conflict as well. My campaign is pushing really hard, trying to spread the word that he does have a conflict of interest.”

He said the chamber has been involved in lobbying on more than 100 bills last year. “It’s just the gravity of bills that he would have to recuse himself from that is the main issue,” Green said.

Smith strongly disagreed that his new job poses a conflict.

“My opponent’s whole campaign is about me instead of what he’s going to do for the job,” Smith said. “I would say he can think it’s a conflict of interest, but the Public Integrity Commission, attorneys in the Republican and Democratic caucuses, as well as the Health Ethics Committee, don’t think it’s a conflict of interest, and those are really the only opinions that do matter. So he can have that opinion, but that’s for campaign purposes. It’s not an actual issue, and he knows that.”

He noted that for the last 12 years, he has worked for the University of Delaware, and “nobody seemed to have an issue with that.”

“If you look at my legislative record and my character, that’s never changed, and it’s not going to change now,” he added.

Diverging Priorities on Education and Healthcare

If elected, Green’s top priority would be improving education, he said. Ensuring the successful rollout and achievement of objectives for the new hybrid funding model—which allocates additional resources to high-need students—is among his key goals. He also favors banning cellphone use in schools and restricting the use of artificial intelligence in classrooms.

“I’m not suggesting a big, wide-ranging ban on it, but I would be in favor of limitations on it,” he said.

Although he needs to examine the Redding Consortium’s unification plan for the four northern New Castle County districts further before taking a definitive stance, Green stresses that immediate action is required to address declining enrollment in the Red Clay Consolidated School District. Green noted his alma mater, A.I. DuPont High School, has lost more than half its enrollment since he graduated in 2012.

Green additionally aims to bolster state government anti-discrimination mandates, champion expanded solar and nuclear power generation, and make healthcare more accessible and affordable. Another of his priorities is to help preserve the character of Hockessin.

Strategy Talk with Alex M H Smith and Dr. Michael Gerharz

Reflecting on the past two years, Smith highlighted his satisfaction with helping resolve problems stemming from the county property reassessment, preserving access to the Polly Drummond Hill Road yard waste facility, and securing infrastructure funding for road repaving in his district. He is also proud of helping secure a state investment in a new program that trains midwives, noting that the first class of eight students is now underway.

If re-elected, one of Smith’s top priorities will be education. The legislature has already addressed teacher pay, but now he wants to address school safety.

“The second biggest reason that teachers either leave the profession, leave the school district or leave the state is because of student behavior, meaning they’re afraid of the students,” Smith said. “I think we have to work on [putting] standards and accountability back in schools. I’ve had a bill for that called the Teacher’s Bill of Rights.”

Smith does not support the Redding Consortium’s plan to consolidate the Christina, Red Clay, Brandywine and Colonial districts into one, but he does support looking at consolidating schools in areas of low enrollment.

On healthcare, Smith is looking forward to the progress of the new medical school that will be housed at the University of Delaware. He also wants to focus on economic development, pointing to ongoing growth in the life sciences sector across the state.