Sean Barney
Sean Barney was a 2016 Democratic candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the At-Large Congressional District of Delaware.[1] Barney was defeated by Lisa Blunt Rochester in the Democratic primary on September 13, 2016.[2]
Barney was a Democratic candidate for Delaware Treasurer in the 2014 elections.[3] Sean Barney lost the general election on November 4, 2014.
Biography
Sean Barney is a former Marine and Iraq War veteran. He served as senior advisor to Delaware Senator Tom Carper and policy director to Delaware Governor Jack Markell. Today he is the President of a Delaware venture capital firm.[4]
In May 2006, while serving in Iraq, Sean Barney was shot in the neck by an enemy sniper. He recovered from his wounds and received the Purple Heart.[4]
Sean Barney earned a J.D. from Yale Law School, an M.P.A. from the Harvard Kennedy School, an M.A. from Columbia University, and a B.A. from Swarthmore College.[4]
Elections
2016
Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Democratic. Incumbent John Carney Jr. (D) did not seek re-election, leaving the seat open. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D) defeated Hans Reigle (R), Scott Gesty (L), and Mark Joseph Perri (G) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Rochester defeated Bryan Townsend, Sean Barney, Michael Miller, Scott Walker, and Elias Weir in the Democratic primary on September 13, 2016.[5][6][2]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic |  Lisa Blunt Rochester |
55.5% | 233,554 | |
| Republican | Hans Reigle | 41% | 172,301 | |
| Green | Mark Joseph Perri | 2% | 8,326 | |
| Libertarian | Scott Gesty | 1.5% | 6,436 | |
| Total Votes | 420,617 | |||
| Source: Delaware Secretary of State | ||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lisa Blunt Rochester |
43.9% | 26,613 | ||
| Bryan Townsend | 24.7% | 14,950 | ||
| Sean Barney | 20.2% | 12,274 | ||
| Michael Miller | 5.5% | 3,319 | ||
| Scott Walker | 5% | 3,008 | ||
| Elias Weir | 0.7% | 449 | ||
| Total Votes | 60,613 | |||
| Source: Delaware Department of Elections |
||||
2014
Barney ran for election to the office of Delaware Treasurer. Barney was uncontested for the Democratic nomination in the primary on September 9. The general election took place on November 4, 2014.
Results
General election
| Delaware Treasurer, 2014 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Ken Simpler |
53.6% | 123,105 | |
| Democratic | Sean Barney | 43.6% | 100,218 | |
| Green | David Chandler | 2.8% | 6,373 | |
| Total Votes | 229,696 | |||
| Election results via Delaware Office of the State Election Commissioner | ||||
Campaign themes
2016
Barney's campaign website listed the following themes for the 2016 race:
| “ |
Many politicians in Washington refuse to work together, which means they are not getting things done for families in Delaware. I am focused on one goal: finding solutions to the urgent challenges facing Delaware and the United States, such as strengthening Social Security and Medicare, reducing income inequality, and improving our public schools. I have a comprehensive understanding of the issues Delaware faces today and a proven record of getting results. I was Tom Carper’s policy director when he was first elected to the United States Senate. Working with him in Washington, I helped him expand Medicare on a bipartisan basis to cover prescription drugs. Later, as policy director to Delaware’s governor, Jack Markell, I helped raise the minimum wage and pass universal background checks for gun sales in our state. When I was in the Marines, no one asked if I was a Democrat or a Republican. We all just worked together to accomplish our mission for the good of the country. In Congress, I will do the same and work with both parties to bring common sense solutions to our problems. I will be a voice in Congress to move beyond petty politics, stand up to big money interests, and make lives better for the people of Delaware.
|
” |
| —Email submission to Ballotpedia | ||
2014
| “ |
My focus as State Treasurer will first be on being a responsible custodian of taxpayer money, but I have listened to voters across the state that they want a leader who will work tirelessly to champion greater accountability and transparency and will fight to help build a strong middle class – the backbone of a fiscally secure future for Delaware. This means broadening opportunity for Delawareans, empowering our middle class and those who aspire to join it, and restoring faith in our elected officials. I am a leader who will make sure you are welcome at the table as we work with our legislature, our communities, and our neighbors in facing our shared challenges. I bring a broader view for a better Delaware. Rebuilding Public Confidence Trust in the Office Government has a vital role to play in promoting economic opportunity and fairness, but it can only play that role if taxpayers have confidence in government’s management of taxpayer resources. We are all in this together as we weather these difficult financial times and we need to work together, listen to each other, and push our elected officials to meet the highest standards. My first actions as Treasurer will be to bring the office into order, cut down on wasteful travel and expenditures, and bring it to full strength by bringing on a Deputy dedicated to watchfully safeguarding our state assets. In playing an important role in safeguarding our assets, the Treasurer’s office must meet our highest standards for effectiveness, execution, and management. I will meet those standards. Transparency Currently there is a culture that public information is accessible through information requests and then is narrowly tailored to answer the request. This is costly in administrative time and a bar to public scrutiny, which is one of the best ways to ensure that our state government is spending taxpayer resources in the public interest. We can and must improve upon this. As Treasurer, I will create and provide tools to ease understanding and accessibility through downloadable information with original sources about how Delaware raises its revenues and how Delaware spends the taxpayers’ money. Citizens should be able to follow the money, participate in discussions over how their tax dollars are spent on an informed basis, and discover and report waste, fraud and abuse. Efficiency and Accountability State government should always be looking for ways to do more with less; this is true never more so than today. As the signer of the checks and as an independently elected official, the Treasurer is ideally situated to scrutinize state spending and identify opportunities both to achieve savings and to improve results for the taxpayers. As Treasurer, I will play a role in our budget process, reporting first to the public and then to the General Assembly and Executive on the performance of state government in spending the taxpayers’ money and provide recommendations for improving that performance. Additionally, the State Treasurer’s signature on state checks should be more than a rubber stamp. As Treasurer, I will actively monitor state payments for irregularities, tracking historical uses of our funds to help identify when something has gone awry, and will stand up for and listen carefully to whistleblowers who uncover waste, fraud, and abuse. Promoting the Long Term View The long-term view often gets lost in debates in Delaware over state spending, taxing, and borrowing. The focus year-by-year is on stopgap measures to balance the budget in the here and now. Too little attention is paid to long-term trends and to the need for structural reforms to place Delaware’s finances on a sustainable footing long run, outside of political terms of office. As Treasurer, I will regularly report to the public on long-term trends in state spending and in the sustainability of the state’s revenue sources. Moreover, I will issue annual Debt Affordability Studies, providing lawmakers and the public with a comprehensive look at our debt profile, the status of our credit rating, and calculations of our debt capacity. Broadening Opportunity Opportunity Accounts These are an exciting development that we need here in Delaware. Each year, 12,000 new Delawareans are born. It’s crucial that we are giving these children the tools to be able to pursue higher education and vocational training to help them enter the middle class and beyond. It’s about setting expectations of success. Children with accounts with even less than $500 have been shown to be almost seven times more likely to attend college or pursue job training than those without an account. Even when factors including household income and academic achievement are controlled for, children with savings dedicated for college are four times more likely to attend college. As Treasurer, I will work with our foundation community and financial community in Delaware to establish a system of universal savings accounts, seeded at birth and designated for college or postsecondary vocational training, for every child in Delaware without the need for additional taxes or fees. Read more about the accounts here. Practical Assistance in Accessing Opportunity We need to also help build our middle class by helping them access education and training immediately. Many families do not see college or other opportunities beyond high school as viable financial options for their children, despite the prospect these opportunities afford for greater lifetime earnings and enhanced economic security. There are resources that can help make these opportunities financially affordable and accessible to even the most financially stressed families in our state. As Treasurer, I will help families access the resources that are available to them by recruiting, training, and coordinating volunteers to help families take advantage of existing programs such as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), fee waivers, and local, state, and national scholarship opportunities. Strengthening Our Middle Class Fighting for Middle Class Wages From the end of World War II until the mid-1970s, workers were paid in line with advances in productivity and wages rose. A rising tide lifted all boats. Since the mid-1970s, productivity has advanced at much the same pace as before, up 80 percent from 1973 to 2011, but middle class incomes have stagnated and inequality has soared to levels not seen since the Great Depression. As a citizen, I have stood with our workers and called for change. As Treasurer, I will be a champion for workers fighting for a livable wage and union representation. Further, I will insist that employers receiving state funds comply with Delaware law, including laws governing wages and working conditions. Financial Empowerment We can do more to help Delawareans take control of their financial futures. It starts with education, but can’t end there. We have incredible community resources to empower Delawareans in all phases of life and help them open savings accounts, make budgets, and transition between life events such as graduation, retirement, and even re-entry into society after incarceration. As Treasurer, I will serve as a financial advocate for individuals, families, and communities throughout Delaware by:
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” |
| —Sean Barney's campaign website, (2014) | ||
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Sean + Barney + Delaware + Congress"
See also
- Delaware's At-Large Congressional District election, 2016
- Delaware Treasurer
- Delaware down ballot state executive elections, 2014
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Delaware Online, "Sean Barney entering congressional race," December 2, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Politico, "Delaware House Primary Results," September 13, 2016
- ↑ State of Delaware Department of Elections, "PRIMARY ELECTION 09/09/2014 FILED CANDIDATES BY OFFICE," July 9, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Email submission to Ballotpedia, August 29, 2016
- ↑ Delaware Secretary of State, "Primary election candidates," accessed July 13, 2016
- ↑ Delaware Secretary of State, "General election candidates," accessed July 13, 2016
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Barney for DE, "Priorities," accessed October 30, 2014
