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Eric Hansen (Delaware)
Eric Hansen (Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Delaware. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Hansen completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Eric Hansen's career experience includes working as an executive at Walmart. He has also worked at Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. Hansen earned a master's degree from Yale School of Management.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: United States Senate election in Delaware, 2024
General election
General election for U.S. Senate Delaware
Lisa Blunt Rochester defeated Eric Hansen and Michael Katz in the general election for U.S. Senate Delaware on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Lisa Blunt Rochester (D) | 56.6 | 283,298 |
 | Eric Hansen (R)  | 39.5 | 197,753 | |
 | Michael Katz (Independent Party) | 3.9 | 19,555 | |
| Total votes: 500,606 | |||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Lisa Blunt Rochester advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Delaware.
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Pamela Brown (D)
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Eric Hansen advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Delaware.
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- William Taylor (R)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Hansen in this election.
Pledges
Hansen signed the following pledges.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Eric Hansen completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hansen's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Eric grew up mostly in Florida with a family, like many, too often struggling to make ends meet. At the age of 12, he started going to church on his own and has remained faithful since. Despite the hardships he saw that more was possible. Driven to do more, he worked his way through college with summer jobs and student loans. He ultimately earned his master’s degree from Yale School of Management. With perseverance and some luck, he got the education that allowed him to live the American Dream.
Eric has been in business his entire career. He spent the bulk of his career as an executive at Walmart – the uniquely American company that is built on lowering prices so people can live better. At Walmart, he ran a business with brands like Equate, Parent’s Choice, and others. His job was to make them just as good as the national brands, but half the price. Because of his work at Walmart, Eric saved U.S. shoppers over $25 billion.- I am running for Senate because government is broken and both parties in DC have failed our families and our nation. I'm running to offer an alternative: I am a reasonable Republican who is running to get results.
I am a businessman, and a proud political outsider. I spent many years at Walmart learning how to manage complexity, get collaboration from people that don’t agree, and drive down prices for consumers. My team and I were able to save the country over 25 billion dollars.
I’m running because everything before Walmart and after Walmart seemed unsatisfying - because while I was at Walmart I wasn’t just managing a business, I was helping people save money and live better - exactly what I'll do in the US Senate. - Hansen’s top priorities include: - Lower the cost of living. Create an inflation tax credit that helps those on fixed incomes and tight budgets defray higher costs. Reduce wasteful government spending so we can spend on programs that work for you. - Secure the border. Legal immigration with strong vetting is good for the nation, illegal immigration must end. - End violent crime. Bring in a federal task force to prosecute repeat violent criminals. Create a path back to the community for non-violent criminals.
- In DC, politicians care more about getting re-elected than serving the people that elected them. "I am running to change that. I commit, on the record, to running for a single term so that I can be free to do what’s right for you - and NOT what will get me re-elected. Only if the majority of Delawareans think I did a great job would I run for a second term and no more. That will allow me to serve you in a way no career politician can."
He brought back civility to politics and trust in government by forcing collaboration across the aisle - to achieve results for the good of all.
Eric helped bring both parties, and America, back from extremism and polarization to shared goals and a hopefulness for the future.
Passed the Hansen Tax and Spend reduction act that returned the US to fiscal responsibility, stimulated the economy, and helped us all live better - while protecting the future for our children and future generations.
2. Returned the US K-12 schooling to best in the world.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Hansen’s campaign website stated the following:
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Policies
Did you know that Delaware schools are among the worst in the country – ranked 48 out of 50 states? And Delaware will be the worst state in the country in educational outcomes in less than three years at the rate it’s currently declining. That’s unacceptable. Education affects nearly everything. Because we have poor schools, we have fewer new companies relocating to Delaware, meaning fewer new jobs. Young adults are unable to find good-paying jobs, leading to hopelessness, addiction, and crime. The fact that none of the issues in our schools have been addressed at the federal or state level is a failure of leadership, plain and simple. I believe that every child deserves a quality education regardless of their zip code or family’s income. We need to expand school choice so parents can send their kids to schools that make a difference – whether those schools are public, private, or parochial. We need to expand national testing so we can track the progress of individual students over time – and we should reward great teachers who improve student progress with bonuses. And we need to give at-risk kids extra support and help rather than passing them to the next grade and setting them up for failure in the future. Like most of you, I believe that schools are for reading, writing, and math, not for culture wars. With so few proficient students, it’s time we got back to the basics.
We can improve healthcare in the US while savings trillions with smart changes. We must allow Medicare and Medicaid to negotiate the price of prescription drugs, saving seniors some $450 billion over ten years. To reduce medical costs, I will remove Medicare and ACA restrictions on outpatient facilities to save up to $672 billion over ten years. I will expand chronic disease preventive care services to save $1.5 trillion over 10 years. We will encourage the use of generic and biosimilar drugs reducing drug costs by 80%. I will reduce incentives to provide unnecessary medical care and save the country $4 trillion over ten years. Finally, I will create a program to leverage AI to better detect waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid to save as much as $1 trillion over ten years.
The big problem isn’t the US – it’s China and India. China and India are growing emissions with coal plants faster than we can reduce emissions. That means that no matter what we do, our best efforts will be negated by China and India. The solution is to place tariffs on goods made with dirty energy so that China and India stop relying on cheap and dirty coal. They are ones poisoning the planet. That doesn’t mean we should stop either but the solution for the US is innovation – not mandates and regulation. Innovation gave this country an extra hundred years of natural gas and reduced US CO2 by 30%. Innovation gave us safe Small Modular Nuclear. Innovation is helping reduce methane, which is 120x more powerful than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Innovation should bring us cheap deep geothermal and make us more like Iceland where electricity and heat are nearly free. Innovation will let US-made solar begin to complete with Chinese-made solar. Regulation will simply increase costs for everyone, it will slow down innovation and let China win the green energy race. We can’t afford that. We need to promote and incentivize innovation. Dirty energy tariffs on China and India plus US innovation is what will solve both the climate AND the energy problem.
Local prosecutors too often are not aggressively prosecuting gun violence and violent crimes – and as a result we are all less safe. I will add federal resources to ensure that the most dangerous and violent criminals are prosecuted and imprisoned. We also need to put drugs dealers behind bars – Delaware is 5th in opioid and fentanyl deaths in the U.S. I support immediate federal intervention to stop drug cartels and gang violence. When local government will not step up, we are left with no choice but for the federal government to step in. After release, over 60% of prisoners in Delaware are back in prison within three years – only one state is worse. For non-violent criminals we need end-to-end support systems like in-prison vocational training programs and second chance arrest record removal so when they are released, they can get jobs and become productive members of society rather than committing more crimes. For violent criminals, we need to ensure the sentence matches the crime. We need support for drug addiction and mental health services to reduce overdoses, homelessness, and random violence. For non-violent personal drug possession, we should give these prisoners a path back to society and make room for violent felons and drug dealers that are under-prosecuted at the federal and state level.
Inflation is affecting every American family, with many Delawareans being hit hardest. We need to get inflation under control and lower prices on consumers. I will pass the Hansen Tax and Price Reduction Act to reduce prices, lower taxes, and reduce interest rates while making government smarter and more efficient. We need to eliminate government activities that provide no real value to you. We have over 400 government agencies, and we need to merge similar agencies to gain synergies and reduce costs. We need to reform the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates. We will require balanced budgets and smarter government spending. We need to move towards a flatter, simpler tax system for small businesses and corporations – with exemptions for low-income families. All of this will stimulate our economy and create more and higher paying jobs and put money back in your pocket. We must protect Social Security and ensure the program does not run short of money in 10 years as predicted. We need to add 401(k)+ benefit options for future retirees in addition to Social Security that could increase the average benefit from $24,000 to $100,000 a year while stimulating the economy and creating new jobs.
The Supreme Court returned abortion policy to the states and Delawareans have been clear where they stand. I oppose a national abortion ban and will not support any federal law that overrides Delaware law. Like most Americans, I support reasonable limits on late-term abortions and will always support exceptions for the terrible cases of rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother. We must also do a better job supporting women through pregnancy and beyond. We can do this by ensuring that we have better adoption services, prenatal care, and a more cost-effective health care system.
Democracy around the world is under threat. Russia has already taken Crimea, and it is trying to take all of Ukraine and wants to take even more. China has already taken most U.S. manufacturing jobs and they want more too. China and Russia now see the U.S. as timid and unsure. But peace comes through strength and commitment. We need to stop Russia from illegally seizing more territory and expanding into Europe. But we also need to make sure that any aid to Ukraine does not go into the pockets of corrupt officials. And we need to shift Ukraine spending to NATO – we have already paid more than our fair share to stop Russia. We need to keep China from dominating the U.S. I support bringing key industries back to the U.S. like microchips, sensitive technologies, and pharmaceuticals. I support tougher rules to prevent China from stealing our technology and our private data. And I support more investment in smart and autonomous military technologies to defend this great nation against foreign threats.
Trust in government is at an all-time low, and for good reason. We have had one-party rule in Delaware since 2008. The establishment and career politicians are simply too entrenched. As a result, Delaware is ranked 48th out of 50 for government integrity, transparency, and accountability. Too often the government tries to tell you what to do and how to think. We must have smart government reform to drive accountability and efficiency. I will restore faith in our government through transparency and expanded federal agency disclosures – less secrets. We need the government to work for you, not against you behind closed doors. [2] |
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| —Eric Hansen’s campaign website (2024)[3] | ||
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Vote Eric Hansen, "About," accessed March 31, 2024
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Vote Eric Hansen, “Home,” accessed August 13, 2024
