The Delaware Democratic Party on Monday night picked Bud Freel, a former Wilmington City councilman and state transportation spokesman, as its candidate for the state House seat vacated by Rep. Gerald Brady.
Brady, a Wilmington Democrat, announced his resignation in late January shortly before police charged him with two misdemeanor counts of shoplifting.
The district centers on the liberal Trolley Square area and the Highlands, and has more than twice as many Democratic voters as Republican ones. As a Democrat with ample name recognition, Freel is all but guaranteed to win the special election on March 5.
A 28-person committee of Democrats who live in the district picked 69-year-old Freel over Adriana Bohm, a 52-year-old Red Clay school board member and sociology professor at Delaware County Community College. No one else sought candidacy.
Both Freel and Bohm answered questions and addressed concerns from attendees during the meeting.
The committee voted following a Zoom meeting that was open only to registered Democrats. The vote was in lieu of a primary in which voters of the district would decide which of the candidates should run on the Democratic ticket.
Freel was a Wilmington City Council member for about 24 years, representing the city at large for about 16 years and then its 8th District for eight more years before deciding not to seek reelection at the end of 2020. Much of Wilmington’s 8th District overlaps with Brady’s district.
At the same time, he worked for the Delaware Department of Transportation’s community relations section for about 25 years before retiring in 2020.
The winner of the special election will hold the seat only until the end of 2022 because the district is being eliminated as part of redistricting.
In November, lawmakers redrew legislative maps to accommodate for population changes found in 2020 U.S. census data. Thanks to population growth in Sussex County, Brady’s district will be essentially erased and absorbed by neighboring districts to make way for a new House district in the southern half of the state.
Whoever is elected to replace Brady will not be able to run for reelection, but they could run against the incumbent of the newly drawn neighboring district. That would likely be Rep. Krista Griffith, a Fairfax Democrat whose district will swallow much of Brady’s.
That scenario would present a political mess that the Delaware Democratic Party, an organization deeply rooted in the Delaware Way’s values of purported unity and protecting those who are already in office, wants to avoid.
In an interview with Delaware Online/The News Journal last week, Freel said he has “no desire to run for another office” if he’s elected to the eight-month term.
Freel said he supports several progressive-backed bills as they are written now to require a permit to purchase a gun, legalize marijuana and increase transparency requirements in the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights.
The General Assembly is in session until June 30, giving the special election winner less than four months of lawmaking power. After that, the Statehouse goes on a six-month break.
In the meantime, Republicans are working on finding their own candidate. Delaware GOP Chairwoman Jane Brady said the party has “several options” of candidates and plans to make an announcement on Tuesday.
Anthony Delcollo, a former Republican state senator from Elsmere who lost his seat to Sen. Spiros Mantzavinos in the 2020 elections, is one of the Republicans considering running.
“Having that person who’s a bridge-builder, and who is a problem solver, is extremely important,” said Delcollo, a self-described centrist who prided himself on using his legal background to be pragmatic as a senator.
Brady officially stepped down on Friday after holding the seat for 16 years.
In a Jan. 21 statement, he said he would resign from his legislative position because he had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Four days later, Newark police issued a warrant for Brady’s arrest, charge him with two counts of shoplifting at an Acme in Newark on Dec. 29 and Jan. 12. Nine bundles of firewood were among the merchandise stolen that amounted to less than $200 in each incident, according to court documents.
Brady’s initial statement did not mention the criminal allegations, though multiple sources told Delaware Online/The News Journal that the 65-year-old lawmaker’s resignation was linked to a shoplifting investigation.
Over the summer, Brady faced criticism over an email he sent in June that used a racist and misogynistic phrase to describe Chinese women. He faced calls for his resignation after Delaware Online/The News Journal wrote about the email. Brady apologized through a spokesperson and, at the time, said he would not seek reelection.
A few months later, when lawmakers had to decide which New Castle County district to eliminate due to redistricting, they eliminated Brady’s to avoid forcing any incumbents to step down or face another incumbent in the election.
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Sarah Gamard covers government and politics for Delaware Online/The News Journal. Reach her at (302) 324-2281 or sgamard@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahGamard.
