The House earlier this week passed Representative Paul Baumbach’s very necessary House Bill 29 unanimously. Why very necessary? Because it puts an end to a corrupt political practice that we saw in evidence last summer in Wilmington and New Castle County where there is a brief post-filing deadline scramble where filed candidates engage in a game of musical chairs by switching the offices they are running for.
Last summer, just after the filing deadline for candidates to file to run for office passed, several city and county candidates switched races. For example, Velda Jones Potter quit her City Treasurer reelection race to run for Mayor (and lost, to my great amusement). Vash Turner withdrew from running for his 5th District City Council seat and ran for Treasurer. And so on and so on.
House Bill 29 ‘eliminates the ability of a candidate to change their candidacy to become a candidate for a different office after the deadline for notification of candidacy has passed.’
| House Bill 29 Sponsors | Yes Votes | No Votes |
| Baumbach, M.Smith, Brady, Gray, Morrison, Osienski | House Passed 40-0-1. Baumbach, Bennett, Bentz, Bolden, Brady, Bush, Carson, Chukwuocha, Cooke, Dorsey Walker, Griffith Heffernan K.Johnson K.Williams Kowalko Lambert Longhurst Lynn Matthews Minor-Brown Mitchell Morrison Osienski S.Moore Schwartzkopf Wilson-Anton Briggs King Bush Collins D.Short Gray Hensley M.Smith Morris Postles Ramone Shupe Smyk Spiegelman Vanderwende Yearick | Dukes (Absent) |
| Townsend, Wilson, Pettyjohn | ||
| Current Status: | Senate Elections & Government Affairs Committee 4/22/21 |
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