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Democrat Jumps Into Delaware Senate Race

By BERNIE BECKER, February 3, 2010, 5:16 pm

In a not unexpected move, Chris Coons, a Democrat and the New Castle County executive, announced on Wednesday that he would run for the Senate in Delaware, setting up a possible face-off with Republican Representative Michael N. Castle.

“People in Delaware are hurting, and they deserve a senator who will wake up every day and fight for the people in our great state,” Mr. Coons said in a statement.

Mr. Coons’ announcement comes a more than a week after Delaware’s attorney general, Beau Biden, said he would not seek the seat previously held by his father, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. As The Times’s Carl Hulse reported at the time, Democratic officials quickly moved on to Mr. Coons after the younger Biden’s decision.

Mr. Coons was elected in 2008 to his second term as county executive of the most populous of Delaware’s three counties and has also served as president of the New Castle County Council.

Mr. Castle, a moderate who served two terms as governor and is in his ninth term as Delaware’s at-large member of the House, is widely considered to be the favorite following Beau Biden’s decision. But, in an interview on MSNBC on Tuesday, the elder Biden cautioned not to count Mr. Coons out.

“I predict to you that Chris Coons is going to surprise the devil out of them,” said the vice president.

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