Newspaper articles, magazine profiles and political blogs have referred to Matt Denn as “a reformer and consumer watchdog,” “a rising star” and “a real hard working guy and smart as heck.” But for many who have worked with Matt over the years, there’s one thing that epitomizes his drive and work ethic: The emails he sends at 3:30 in the morning.

His middle-of-the-night messages are just one example of the energy and devotion Matt Denn has poured into working for Delaware. As an attorney for people who could not afford one, as an advocate for children, as legal counsel to the Governor and as Delaware’s insurance commissioner, Matt has blended passion and principle, hard work and humor in a way that has made him a one-of-a-kind public official.

“He’s got all the pieces to the puzzle: he is informed, works well across the aisle, and has the intellectual capacity to master the issues,” said one legislator in a 2005 newspaper profile of Matt. “To boot, he doesn’t take himself too seriously and has the energy to tackle the issues.”

Matt grew up in New Castle County, attending Yorklyn Elementary and H.B. du Pont Middle School. When his family moved to California, he finished high school there and went to the University of California at Berkeley, where he was elected president of the student body.

After that came Yale Law School, where he blended typical achievements, like making law review, with some not-so-typical ones. While in charge of Yale’s prestigious annual mock court competition, he decided to forgo the usual list of federal judges and legal scholars who often served as guest judges at the event. Matt’s choice: Judge Wapner from TV’s “The People’s Court.”

“The words ‘mock trial competition’ don’t inspire a great deal of enthusiasm,” a young Matt was quoted as saying in The New York Times, which covered the “Wapnermania” that gripped the Yale campus as a result. “We wanted someone who was both a good judge and a good draw, and there’s no bigger draw than Wapner.” (To be fair, this was in 1991.)

Matt returned to Delaware and sought out Delaware Volunteer Legal Services for his first job, providing free legal advice and representation to people who couldn’t afford it otherwise. Meeting with clients in church basements, he worked on cases involving unfair apartment evictions and workplace discrimination.

“He deals with them all thoroughly from A to Z and, thank God, it’s all free,” Bishop Thomas Weeks of Greater Bethel A.M.E Church told the News Journal when it wrote about Matt’s service to the churches.

In 1998, after he had entered private legal practice, Matt was asked by then-Governor Tom Carper to chair the state’s Child Protection Accountability Commission. The commission’s task was to help fix state government’s child protection system after a series of tragic child deaths, including that of 4-year-old Bryan Martin. After following the advice of Matt’s commission, caseworker loads were reduced and child safety measures improved.

From 2001 to 2003, Matt served as chief legal counsel to Governor Ruth Ann Minner at the start of her term. He wrote legislation and negotiated with members of the General Assembly to pass new laws like the Patient’s Bill of Rights, giving patients power the ability to stand up to insurance companies and the Emergency Health Powers Act, improving the ability of the state to respond to a bioterrorism attack.

In 2004, Matt won both a primary and the general election to become the state’s Insurance Commissioner, turning an office that had been forgotten by many into a strong advocate for Delaware consumers. (Read about Matt’s record as insurance commissioner here.)

Matt married his wife Michele in 2002 after proposing to her on the boardwalk in Rehoboth, where they had met. Their dog Lenny joined the family in summer 2004. On December 29, 2004 – just days before Matt took office as insurance commissioner – twins Adam and Zach were born.

Matt approaches family and fatherhood with the same zeal he has for everything else, and the boys often accompany their dad to community meetings, parades, fairs and political events around the state. The twins’ exploits and the thoughts of “Mrs. Denn” are a staple of Matt’s campaign blog.

In 2007, a Father’s Day feature article in News Journal included these parenting tips from Matt:

• “Live near your mother and give her the key to your house.”
• “Don’t let your wife convince you that she can’t figure out how to empty the Diaper Genie.”
• “Don’t try to quit caffeine at this time. You will simply become a danger to yourselves and others.”

So if you send Matt an email, don’t be surprised if the somewhat caffeinated reply comes while you (and most of us) are sleeping.