Outsider Dems frustrated with politicking ahead of special election nomination vote

Frustrations over political jockeying and an alleged lack of transparency have emerged among Wilmington-area Democrats in advance of a Monday vote of party insiders that will decide the candidates who will run in special elections early next year.

Currently, there are nine Democrats vying to fill the legislative seats of State Sens. Sarah McBride and Kyle Evans Gay – who each are departing their Democratic-leaning districts for higher office.

The field roughly divides between candidates who have worked within establishment Delaware politics – such as United Way executive Dan Cruce and former lawmaker Raymond Seigfried – and those who have sat farther away from the levers of power. Those include Shay Frisby, a state social services supervisor; Adriana Bohm, a sociology professor; and David Vagnoni, a Brandywine High School teacher.

Spotlight Delaware has spoken with candidates and several party members who have said that a handful of political influencers have been coalescing around the establishment candidates, and have lobbied others to do the same. 

Among those is George Frankel, a candidate vying to replace McBride, who said party elders told him to step out of the race and wait his turn to run for office. In particular, he cited pressure from former-Wilmington Rep. Bud Freel – who has long been influential in the city’s Democratic Party.

“The party establishment wanted David Sheppard, and then David dropped out very quickly, and then they all rallied behind Dan Cruce, miraculously,” Frankel said, while also noting concern that his comments could invite political repercussions.

In addition to Frankel, the five candidates seeking the nomination to run for McBride’s Senate District 1 are Cruce, Bohm, and Vagnoni, as well as Chris Otto, head of the Delaware Nurses Association, and Chantae Vinson, a staffer at Wilmington’s Office of Emergency Management.

Those seeking to replace Gay in Senate District 5 are Frisby, Seigfried, and Bryan Haimes, a ChristianaCare doctor.

Last month, several of the candidates spoke with Spotlight Delaware about their policy platforms, with many of the conversations centering on health care and education policy, as well as on how Democrats can better appeal to a changing electorate.

Because of Democrats’ hefty advantage in both senate districts, the candidates who emerge Monday evening as the party’s nominees will almost certainly win in their subsequent special elections.

‘Flawed and undemocratic’ or by the rules?

In recent weeks, four candidates have withdrawn from contention, including David Sheppard, Melissa Froemming, Jonathan Tate, and Kenneth Woods.

The most recent was Woods, who announced his withdrawal in an email Friday to members of Senate District 1’s nomination committee. 

In the email, he also endorsed Cruce’s candidacy, asserting he has “the skills, experience, and political philosophy that I believe will proudly and effectively carry the Democratic banner.”

Woods’ email contrasts sharply with one sent two weeks earlier to party leaders, in which Froemming said she was dropping out of the race because of “systemic issues in our party’s nomination process,” which she called flawed and undemocratic.

In an email to Spotlight Delaware, Froemming said “lobbying and perceptions of favoritism are real concerns,” but asserted that a bigger problems is what she called the party’s opaque nomination process, “which excludes voters, limits transparency, and frankly, also fails to reflect the inclusive values professed by the Democratic Party.”

“I was required to agree not to share candidate forum videos with voters before being given access to their recordings,” she said in the email.

Spotlight Delaware has also heard complaints from other candidates and party members who say party leaders have not been transparent about the workings of the nomination process,  including when campaigning was allowed to begin and whether the Monday vote will involve ballots, voice votes, or caucusing.

Some have also complained that Democratic Party leaders even gave them short notice about the location and time of the Monday nomination vote.

Longtime party member and Wilmington Democrat Bill Cortez agreed that the party took too long to tell all members about the location of the vote, but he also tempered the criticism with assertions that such hiccups are expected.

And overall the local Democrats are following rules laid down by the state party leadership, he said.

“We’re doing exactly what the rules say,” he said. 

Dwayne Bensing, a Democrat from Wilmington and legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware, said the lack of transparency has sparked cynicism toward the party’s leadership. He said his preferred candidate – Bohm – hasn’t been given sufficient information about ways to contact voting members of the local party, putting her at a disadvantage.

“I don’t know if I could be any more cynical” about party leadership, he said.

Bohm declined to comment for this story.

Katherine Caudle, committee chair of the New Castle County Democrats, and Cassandra Marshall, chair of the Wilmington Democrats, did not respond to an emailed question about complaints from party members about transparency.

Lobbying adds pressure to race

Spotlight Delaware has learned that a handful of influential Delawareans have been lobbying several of the dozens of Democratic Party precinct leaders who will attend the Monday event to decide on the candidates to run in the special election. 

Among those doing the lobbying are Freel, Rep.-elect Melanie Ross Levin, and lobbyist Kim Gomes. 

In an interview with Spotlight Delaware, Freel said he has had several private conversations with the party’s local voting members about Cruce, who he supports among the field of seven vying for McBride’s seat.

Frankel also noted that Freel sent him a text message, stating that he is “sorry to see” that he is running “for every open seat.”

Before seeking the special election nomination, Frankel ran in the recent primary election for president of the New Castle County Council.

Gomes – a partner in a state lobbying firm ByrdGomes – said she has called various party members to see where they stand on the special election candidates, stating that “anybody on the extremes is not going to be helpful.”

She said she is not being paid for her outreach, but noted that she represents clients from several industries and her “job is to advocate for their needs in the state of Delaware.”

She also said her preferred candidate to replace McBride is Cruce.

For the nomination to replace Gay in Senate District 5, Ross Levin said in an email to Spotlight Delaware that she has made calls to a few voting members to express support for Seigfried. She noted his previous experience in the legislature, saying “I know he’s ready to hit the ground running.”

While such lobbying is unsurprising in advance of a nominating process, some critics have said the efforts only further the belief by some that the nominees are being selected by party leaders rather than party members.

It also follows calls from Gov.-elect Matt Meyer to his party leaders last month, urging them to hold an open primary to determine the special election nominees – rather than a vote of dozens of party insiders.

An open primary election “would require our candidates to organize, persuade, and get out the vote in order to earn the Democratic nomination,” he said in a letter to party leaders.

Last month, Democratic Party Chair Betsy Maron wrote in a response letter, first reported by WHYY, that she could not support Meyer’s proposal, “at this time.”

“We welcome a dialogue to evaluate the current official replacement process under the Delaware Code, the Delaware Democratic Party rules, and the laws of other subdivisions and municipalities,’’ she said in the response.