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Colin Bonini
Member of the Delaware Senate from the 16th district
In office November 9, 1994 – November 9, 2022
Preceded by	William Torbert
Succeeded by	Eric Buckson
Personal details
Born	Colin Rafferty Marie Jude Bonini (1965-04-14) April 14, 1965 (age 59) Stanford, California, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Melissa Harrington ​(m. 2001)​
Education	Wesley College (BA) University of Delaware (MPA)

Colin Rafferty Marie Jude Bonini (born April 14, 1965) is an American politician and a Republican former member of the Delaware Senate, where he represented the 16th District from 1994 to 2022.

Education

Bonini received his Bachelor of Arts from Wesley College in 1991. He received a Master of Public Administration from the University of Delaware in 1999. While in college, he worked for United States Senator Bill Roth and the United States Department of State in New Delhi, India.

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 around the Dover Air Force Base and the towns of Frederica and Harrington.

In 2010, Bonini unsuccessfully ran for state treasurer, losing to Democrat Chip Flowers. Flowers received 51 percent of the vote to defeat Bonini by 6,121 votes.

Shortly after the 2014 elections, 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 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 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

1. "Senator Colin Bonini (R) - Delaware General Assembly".
2. "The Voter's Self Defense System - Vote Smart".
3. Staff (3 August 2020). "Colin Bonini For Delaware Governor". First State Update.
4. "Colin Bonini". Ballotpedia. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
5. "Senate Districts". Delaware General Assembly. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
6. "Kent County 16th Senatorial District" (PDF). Delaware General Assembly. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
7. "State of Delaware General Election Results". Office of the State Election Commissioner. Delaware Department of Elections. November 5, 2010. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
8. Starkey, Jonathan (November 6, 2014). "Colin Bonini: 'I'm running for governor'". The News Journal.
9. Starkey, Jonathan (November 23, 2015). "Sen. Colin Bonini recommits to Delaware governor campaign". The News Journal.
10. "State of Delaware Primary Election Results". Office of the State Election Commissioner. Delaware Department of Elections. September 14, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
11. "State of Delaware General Election Results". Office of the State Election Commissioner. Delaware Department of Elections. November 8, 2016. Archived from the original on October 28, 2018. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
12. "Home - Bay to Bay News | Bay to Bay News".
13. "Delaware Election Results".
14. "Delaware Primary Election Results". The New York Times. 2022-09-13. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
15. "Buckson defeats incumbent Colin Bonini in District 16 race". 47abc. 2022-09-14. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
16. "Former State Senator Colin Bonini to run for Kent County Register of Wills". 24 October 2023.
17. "Longtime state senator running for Kent County register of wills".
18. "Colin Bonini Files for Kent County Register of Wills". 12 July 2024.
19. Mace, Ben (September 11, 2024). "Kent County primary results: 2 incumbents fend off challengers". The News Journal.
20. "Our Campaigns - DE State Treasurer Race - Nov 02, 2010".
21. "Delaware Election Results 2016: Governor Live Map by County, Real-Time Voting Updates". Politico. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
22. "State of Delaware General Election (Official Results)". State of Delaware Election Commissioner. Archived from the original on October 28, 2018. Retrieved November 16, 2016.

External links

• "Senator Colin R. J. Bonini". Delaware General Assembly.
• "Colin Bonini". Official Campaign Website. Archived from the original on 2020-08-12. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
• Project Vote Smart – Senator Colin Bonini (DE) profile

• 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