Colin Rafferty Marie Jude Bonini (born April 14, 1965) is an American politician and a Republican former member of the

Delaware Senate The Delaware State Senate is the upper house of the Delaware General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is composed of 21 Senators, each of whom is elected to a four-year term, except when reapportionment occur ...

, where he represented the 16th District from 1994 to 2022.

Education

Bonini received his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

from Wesley College in 1991. He received a

Master of Public Administration A Master of Public Administration (MPA) is a specialized professional graduate degree in public administration that prepares students for leadership roles, similar or equivalent to a Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the ...

from the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

in 1999. While in college, he worked for

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

Bill Roth and the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Political career

He was elected in 1994 to represent the 16th District in the Delaware Senate. The district covers part of southern and eastern Kent County along with a small portion of adjacent Sussex County. It includes the southern portions of

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

around the

Dover Air Force Base Dover Air Force Base or Dover AFB is a United States Air Force (USAF) base under the operational control of Air Mobility Command (AMC), located southeast of the city of Dover, Delaware. The 436th Airlift Wing is the host wing, and runs the bu ...

and the towns of Frederica and

Harrington Harrington (or Harington) may refer to: People as a surname *Harrington (surname) People as a forename * Arthur Raikes (Arthur Edward Harington Raikes, 1867–1915), British army officer * Charles Harrington Elster, American writer *Edward Josep ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, Bonini unsuccessfully ran for

state treasurer In the state and territorial governments of the United States, 54 of the 56 states and territories have the executive position of treasurer. New York abolished the office of New York State Treasurer in 1926, in which the duties were transfer ...

, losing to Democrat Chip Flowers. Flowers received 51 percent of the vote to defeat Bonini by 6,121 votes. Shortly after the

2014 elections * 2014 United Nations Security Council election 16 October 2014 Africa * 2014 Algerian presidential election 17 April 2014 * 2014 Botswana general election 24 October 2014 * 2014 Comorian presidential election 21 February and 10 April 2014 * 2014 ...

, Bonini announced he would run for governor in the 2016 election to fix "significant systemic and fundamental problems" in the state. Bonini competed with former

state trooper State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction ...

Lacey Lafferty in the Republican primary election, which he won with 70% of the vote. He lost to U.S. Congressman John Carney in the general election, garnering less than 40% of the vote. In 2020, Bonini again tried to run for governor but lost in the Republican primary to Julianne Murray, earning less than 35% of the vote. On September 13, 2022, Bonini was defeated in the Republican primary, finishing last place in a 3-way race. In 2024, Bonini announced he was running for the Kent County

Register of Wills A probate court (sometimes called a surrogate court) is a court that has competence in a jurisdiction to deal with matters of probate and the administration of estates. In some jurisdictions, such courts may be referred to as orphans' courts or ...

in 2024. He won in the Republican primary elections for Kent County register of wills, defeating Susanne Whitney of Magnolia with 59.26% of the vote, 4,210 to 2,894. He received 3,431 machine votes, 523 early votes and 256 absentee votes.

Electoral history

References

External links

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Project Vote Smart – Senator Colin Bonini (DE)
profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonini, Colin R.J. 1965 births Candidates in the 2016 United States elections Republican Party Delaware state senators American identical twins Living people People from Dover, Delaware People from Stanford, California American twins Wesley College (Delaware) alumni Candidates in the 2020 United States elections Identical twin males 21st-century members of the Delaware General Assembly