Collin O’Mara, the leader of the National Wildlife Federation for the last 10 years, is hoping to parlay his work on environmental policy to the Delaware governor’s mansion, with a climate change-focused gubernatorial campaign.
O’Mara, a native of upstate New York who served as Delaware’s secretary of natural resources from 2009 to 2014, will have his work cut out for him though.
Polls have shown him mainly in the single digits for next month’s Democratic primary, far behind Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long and New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer. A Concord Public Opinion Partners poll this month had him at 8 percent, Meyer with 30 percent and Hall-Long with 23 percent.
O’Mara, a frequent figure in national environmental and natural resources policy who lobbied heavily for the landmark Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure law, is banking on a platform that focuses on children — including education and fighting climate change — and on the idea that the fighting between Hall-Long and Meyer will leave him stronger.
