Joshua Pennington will face either Matt Bucher or Morgan Hudson in the General Election in November. As the only Democrat registered to run, Pennington will not face a primary battle this year.
“The reason I am running is to ensure my nieces and nephews grow up better than what I was given, to ensure that our environment is taken care of, to support all first responders in continuing to protect and serve their communities, to advocate for individuals with disabilities and to serve the communities that I grew up and around my whole life,” Pennington said.
Growing up in the Frederica area, Pennington lived in High Point Park and Bowers Beach for most of his childhood. When he entered his second year of high school, his family moved to Harrington.
“I grew up in a first responder family,” Pennington said. “My brother, Phil Pennington Sr., has been in the volunteer fire company since he was a teenager. I learned from him what it meant to put the community above oneself. When I became a teenager, I joined Bowers Fire Company as a cadet and remained a member for over ten years.”
Pennington graduated from Lake Forest High School and began working for Rent-A-Center in Milford, located next to Best Ace Hardware. He then worked at ILC in Frederica, Safeway in Rehoboth and as a child nutrition worker in Caesar Rodney School District. For the past seven years, he has worked with a non-profit called Community Integrated Services.
“My job in this organization was to ensure that those individuals with a disability could become integrated in their communities through working in the community at different job locations,” Pennington said. “During this period, I met my partner, James and we have been together for seven years. WE currently live in Magnolia with three dogs and three cats.”
If elected, Pennington hopes to work across the aisle with each member of the General Assembly to get common ground items like protecting the environment, make it more affordable for Delawareans to live where they grew up and to represent the citizens in the district proudly.
“My one challenge is that this is my first time running, so I am learning everything as I go,” Pennington said. “What I am looking forward to if I am elected is the ability to show the next generation that anything is possible and that service takes many forms.”
