David G. Lawson (born October 29, 1946) is an American politician and a Republican member of the Delaware Senate, where he has represented the 15th District since 2011.

Biography

Lawson was born on October 29, 1946, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and raised on a farm in the Allegheny Mountains. Lawson enlisted in the United States Air Force and completed a tour of duty in Vietnam before being honorably discharged in 1969. After his retirement from the Air Force, Lawson settled in

Harrington, Delaware Harrington is a city in Kent County, Delaware, United States. It is part of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. Harrington hosts the annual Delaware State Fair each July. The population was 3,562 at the 2010 census. History Har ...

, where he served as a volunteer with the Harrington Fire Company. He began a career in law enforcement with the Milford Police Department where he worked as a policeman until transferring to the

Delaware State Police The Delaware State Police (DSP) is a division of the Delaware Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security and is responsible for traffic regulation and law enforcement across the state of Delaware, especially in areas underserved by local ...

in 1973. He retired in 1992 and served as a Delaware State Police Range Instructor and as the Lieutenant of the Special Operations Response Team. Lawson attended Glendale Community College,

Delaware Technical Community College Delaware Technical Community College (previously Delaware Technical & Community College, also known as DTCC, Delaware Tech, or Del Tech) is a public community college in the U.S. state of Delaware. Delaware Tech is an open admission institution ...

, and the Delaware State Police Academy. Lawson was rebuked by Senate

President pro tempore A president pro tempore or speaker pro tempore is a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer. The phrase ''pro tempore'' is Latin "for the time being". ...

David McBride David B. McBride (born June 23, 1942) is an American politician who served in the Delaware General Assembly for forty-two years. After serving one term in the Delaware House of Representatives from the 15th district, he was elected to the Delawa ...

in April 2017 after Lawson called it "despicable" to allow two Muslims to read from the Quran for the daily invocation. Lawson also claimed that the Quran "calls for our very demise". Muslim leaders and others in Delaware condemned Lawson's comments and described them as Islamophobic. Lawson subsequently blamed McBride for holding up legislation that would require courts to use American law, claiming that McBride felt the bill was "anti-Muslim". In 2019, Lawson was criticized for pushing a bill to prevent "foreign laws" from being utilized in local courts, which was seen as targeting Islam in particular. Lawson responded by questioning whether Muslim Americans want to "subvert our constitution".

Elections

*In 2016, Lawson was unopposed for the Republican primary and won the general election unopposed with 15,036 votes. *In 2012, Lawson was unopposed for the Republican primary and won the three-way general election with 9,547 votes (50.6%) against

Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

nominee Kathleen Cooke and Independent candidate Catherine Samardza. *In 2010, Lawson was unopposed for the Republican primary and challenged incumbent Democratic Senator Nancy W. Cook in the general election, winning with 8,370 votes (52.3%).

References

External links

Official page
at the Delaware General Assembly
Campaign site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, David G 1946 births Living people 21st-century American legislators Republican Party Delaware state senators Glendale Community College (California) alumni People from Kent County, Delaware