Michael Katz

Michael Katz (born January 1962) is an American politician from the state of Delaware. Katz represented the 4th district in the Delaware State Senate for one term, serving from 2009 to 2013. Originally a member of the Democratic Party, Katz later joined the Independent Party of Delaware. He is currently the Independent Party's nominee for U.S. Senate in the 2024 election. Professional career Katz is an anesthesiologist, having been trained in pediatric anesthesia at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He also owns a real estate company. Katz received an MBA from Georgetown University School of Business, a BS from Bates College, and an MD from Georgetown University School of Medicine. Political career Katz ran for the 4th district of the Delaware Senate in 2008. The Republican incumbent, Senate Minority Leader Charles Copeland, was not seeking re-election, instead running for lieutenant governor. The 4th district is historically competitive, due in part to its high amount of third-party and independent voters. At the time, Republicans had a voter registration advantage in the district. Katz campaigned on a platform of improving public schools and increasing access to healthcare. Katz won the Democratic nomination over nonprofit executive Dee Durham with 63.0% of the vote before edging out Republican State Committee of Delaware member John Clatworthy in the general election by just 1.3%. Katz raised $97,039 for his campaign. While in office, Katz supported the movement to preserve the historic Murphy House; however, the house was demolished in 2012. Katz also introduced several bills aimed at increasing transparency requirements for lobbyists, though none of them passed committee. In 2011, Katz accused Democratic state representative Bryon Short of plagiarizing a bill he wrote to establish an accreditation process for abortion clinics. Katz also refused to list Short as a cosponsor on his bill due to what he perceived as Short's "poor treatment of the medical community during his private and public deliberations" on an earlier bill. Short acknowledged his bill was very similar to Katz's bill, but argued that both bills were based on language written by the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services and the Medical Society of Delaware months earlier. Short also believed that Katz's bill contained too many protections for doctors, saying "each piece of legislation Sen.