Newcomers challenge old guard of Wilmington Democratic Party

Christina Jedra | The News Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Wilmington Democrats see shakeup from bottom up Grassroots interest led to changes in the city Democratic committee structure, the newly-elected city chair said. Cassandra Marshall and other candidates without prior party leadership experience have moved into city committee roles.

Mat Marshall is only 26, but he's been involved in Delaware Democratic politics for a decade. A communications assistant for the state Senate Democratic Caucus, he has spent years campaigning for Democrats — "too many to count" — up and down the ballot.

In November, the Wilmington resident decided to bring his passion to the local level and run for the Democratic City Committee seat in his election precinct. Expecting to be welcomed by his party amid post-election talk of Democratic unity, Marshall was disappointed when he experienced hostility from longtime city party leaders.

"You’re almost immediately being pushed off the ballot before they even entertain the idea of doing an open, contested race," he said.

As the Democratic Party in Wilmington soul searches following a crushing national election, its reorganization process has been marked by a civil war between the old guard and new faces looking for a place to direct their political energy.

The new folks say the established party members have taken extraordinary and ethically questionable steps to keep them out.

Marshall and three other newcomers were met with open aggression, he said. The longtime ward chairman, Larry Smith, filed a grievance with the state party, alleging their candidacy was invalid because they didn't submit their paperwork properly, Marshall said. In a phone conversation, Marshall said Smith asked him not to run against him and to instead take a seat in a precinct in which he doesn't live to avoid a race.

"I said there an opportunity for a win-win rather than a contest," Smith said. "That’s all it was."

The state grievance committee ruled in the newcomers' favor, allowing them to run. Smith threatened to take the matter to Chancery Court, but he denies this. Ultimately, Marshall lost by seven votes.

The experience, which Marshall said would have been "demoralizing" for someone with less political experience, taught him that the party is "broken" and needs to be opened up — not for the sake of those eager to join, but for the party itself.

"We think of Wilmington of being deep blue and being safe, but I think that’s exactly what got us into trouble in Pennsylvania and the Rust Belt and everywhere else, frankly," he said.

Marshall is among a group of newcomers of all ages who were disappointed in the city committee's "amazingly insular" dynamic, said Cassandra Marshall, a party insurgent who unseated the city party chair at a meeting on Thursday.

"It’s remarkable in an era where the grassroots is getting more and more important, and grassroots people show up, that we have leadership all over the city saying, 'We don’t think we need you.' "

Reorganization

The Democratic City Committee is the local arm of the Delaware Democratic Party. Its main duty, members say, is to spread Democratic values and get out the vote for candidates.

The party's platform on its website leads with the belief that "inclusiveness is the gateway to our collective strength."

But the city committee's recently ousted chair Kevin Kelley Sr. — who is Wilmington's parks director and a two-time mayoral candidate — said the party establishment has some doubts about whether new people "will be as committed" as the sitting members.

"If you’re not familiar with someone and what they do, you feel like, 'OK I've never seen them, I don’t know what they’re doing. Are they really gonna work on Election Day?' " he said. "In the past, we would’ve been able to sit down, settle our differences, and move people around. This time it was a little different."

Outsiders trying to get involved said they were met with pushback from established party members.

In the 1st Ward, state Rep. Charles Potter Jr. held an organizational meeting in April, appointing several people, such as his friend Councilman Samuel L. Guy, to committee seats.

The meeting was held at 9:30 a.m. on a Monday, which prompted a grievance to the state party, saying it was "an unfair date and time." The state party agreed, and the positions were voided.

That ward is "attempting to resolve their differences" but has yet to announce its new committee members, Kelley said.

"He [Potter] called his meeting specifically to box out our folks," said Cassandra Marshall, who became the first woman elected city chair. "The city committee pretty much runs on whatever rules it decides on a day-to-day basis."

In the 5th Ward, new candidates filed a grievance against the chairwoman, Joanne Burke, after they say she named herself as an opponent to a candidate after the meeting was closed. The state grievance committee sided with the newcomers and took Burke off the ballot.

In the 3rd Ward, State Rep. Stephanie T. Bolden held a reorganization meeting a half hour before its posted start time, party members said. The state party's grievance committee sided with the new candidates, Kelley said, and they had to hold another reorganization meeting.

"You’d think they’d look at all these new people and say thank you," said Cassandra Marshall, who said she also felt unwanted by the party four years ago. "They have been strong-arming people out as much as possible."

Bolden denies the accusations.

"People were filing grievances left and right," Bolden said. "The whole thing was very immature... I don't see anybody being pushed back."

She said it comes down to entitlement.

"People thought they were entitled to a seat without doing any work," she said. "I worked every step of the way to get where I am today… I'm doing my part. I don't know anything that they’re doing."

Bolden said the unfamiliar faces can impede the committee's mission.

"The main purpose of a city committee is to get the vote out in your primary and in your presidential election," she said. "If the (voters) don't know and trust you, what kind of confidence are they going to have?"

Bolden recently stepped down from her ward leader position, opting instead for a state delegate position.

Potter says the infighting is nothing out of the ordinary.

"That always happens," he said. "Nothing new under the sun... We take everybody. You get voted in, you get voted out. It’s as simple as that."

But Democratic City Committee actions point to a resistance to openness and change.

At a recent meeting, voting procedures for sub-groups, like the party rules committee, was conducted old-school: with handwritten ballots announced one by one to be marked by tallies on a poster board. The process took hours.

Ward meetings are not posted on the committee's website, and officials resisted sharing the full list of the reorganized wards, with positions and names of representatives, with The News Journal because of "privacy" concerns.

"I’ve lived in that district for three years now, and I haven’t been able to find out when the ward committee meetings are until we forced this process to open up by filing to run," said Mat Marshall, who became a delegate to the state convention after his ward loss.

Smith, who has been involved in city and state politics for decades, said he was "cordial" to Marshall. The ward chair said he felt Marshall and others were trying to "circumvent the process."

"I don't want to give the impression that I’m a hostile man," Smith said. "I beat the young man because I’ve been here almost 40 some odd years… Mat hasn’t done a blessed thing. He hasn't helped this community one iota."

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David Redlawsk, the chair of the University of Delaware's political science department, said the party's behavior is not surprising.

"In places where there is actual competition for the local politics, you’ll see the 'out' party being more inclusive, looking for people to get involved," he said. "You often see the 'in' party being relatively closed as long as they’re winning.

"In places where politics is one-party politics, you’ll often get all kinds of battles between insurgents and long-term folks as conditions change."

The stakes for the Democratic party are high, Redlawsk said.

"Where the general elections are one-party affairs, the local party committee becomes really important," he said. "It can help define the direction of primaries… which become the general election."

State party leadership did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Patronage politics

Prior to the 1960s, the Democratic City Committee worked intimately with City Council and the mayor's administration, helping with constituent services and city functions, according to Theo Gregory, who stepped down from the city committee in December.

"That gave the party power," he said.

Ward leaders at that time were the people residents approached for help finding jobs, Kelley said.

"Some people say that was the good old days," he said.

When that system was abolished, Gregory said the city party was hit with a question he says it still hasn't answered: How do we keep ourselves relevant?

"We really haven't found our niche yet," said Gregory, who was elected chair in 2012 and the early 2000s. "Do we drive policy? Do we speak out? Does the party have a platform? Or do we simply come together every two years when there's an election and form some organization to help people get elected?"

For at least the past three decades, Gregory said the city committee couldn't maintain the cohesion to even endorse candidates. Ward leaders pursued their own agendas instead of following the lead of the city chair, Gregory said.

"There's no unity because there's no center of power."

Instead, ward leaders had wide authority to hand select subordinates that favored them.

"Somewhere along the way... people started to aggressively appoint people instead of having elections," Gregory said. "People would say, I got this opening. Do you want it?"

When there is more than one candidate for an election district seat, instead of holding an election, wards move individuals to other election district seats. So, committee representatives sometimes don't live in the election district for which they are responsible.

"That became the culture, which is a bad culture," Gregory said.

What results, observers say, is a ward resembling its leader's personal network. Ward 1 is led by state Rep. Potter. Members include his friend Councilman Guy; Potter's wife, City Treasurer Velda Jones-Potter; and, until recently, Shayne Williams, the wife of Potter's cousin, former Mayor Dennis P. Williams. Larry Smith serves alongside his wife, Isheta.

"I always felt the process was a bit exclusive," said 1st Vice Chair Maria Cabrera, a former City Councilwoman who lost a bid for mayor last year. "When people have that little bit of power, it's hard to let go."

For years, ward leaders have reflected who is currently in office. Last year, wards were led by Potter, Bolden, then-City Councilwoman Hanifa Shabazz, state Sen. Robert Marshall and City Councilman Bud Freel.

The ethical implications of elected leaders holding leadership seats in the party in charge of endorsing candidates have been questioned for years.

In 2001, Mack D. Cochran, an insurance agent, was running against then-Councilman Gregory and state Rep. Arthur L. Scott for city committee chairman. Cochran said his opponents' statuses as elected officials were problematic. A party leader serving in public office makes the party an "insiders club" where new people with fresh ideas are not welcome, he told The News Journal that year.

Gregory won that election. This week, he said he agrees with Cochran and the rules should be changed. He said he acted against his own belief because he was "recruited" by members to be chairman to "bring some semblance of order to the party."

Whether that effort was successful is self-evident, but Gregory has moved on.

"The party needs to focus on issues, policies, building consensus, and common ground."

Moving forward

This year's first-time party candidates include Democrats who have observed and participated in progressive politics but never before moved to become party leaders.

Vincent White, a real estate professional and Wilmington Housing Authority board member, said the 2016 presidential election lit a fire under him. On an August drive from Wilmington to Virginia, he was disturbed that roads along the way were dominated by Donald Trump signs.

"I saw no Hillary signs — not just for a block but for miles and miles and miles," he said. "I’m like, what is going on? Even in the city. I didn’t see any signs."

Trump's strength, White said, was his simple and powerful message: Make America Great Again.

"He touched what (Americans) were most fearful about and ignited their excitement," White said. "The Dems' message is just not honed enough. The last election showed that. Whatever our message was, it wasn’t insightful enough to get the vote out."

White secured a city committee seat in the 1st Ward.

"Can the Democrats hone a message that changes the paradigm of the party’s direction? Are they that brave?" White said. "I don’t know."

Cassandra Marshall said the newcomers — many of whom supported first-time mayoral candidate and runner-up Eugene Young — don't want to replace the establishment as much as they want a seat at the table.

"It’s not even a need of passing the torch, just opening the doors and saying, 'come on in,' " she said. "Ideally, this should be all of us working together. We’re all Democrats. We all have the same long-term goals and the same thoughts about what government should look like. We all want Wilmington to be successful… but if there’s something about all these new people that is a problem for these folks, then they should just step aside."

On Thursday, Marshall beat Kelley 39-14 for the chair position and swept the rest of the executive committee with allies: newcomers Pamela Foster and Andrew Wilson were elected vice chairs, and Mat Marshall was elected secretary.

Cabrera, the first Hispanic woman on City Council and an advocate for diversity in government, said the city committee was due for a shakeup.

"You can't keep the same faces over and over again," said Cabrera, who was reelected to her committee seat. "When you have (new) people with energy, you've got to channel that, or they'll move on."

Wilmington political observer Robert E. Vanella, a registered independent who flipped blue to vote for mayoral candidate Eugene Young, said the new blood makes him optimistic.

"Either the entrenched interests are going to remain that way, and we get more of the same, or somebody is going to have a breakthrough," he said. "At least there’s a possibility of a breakthrough now."

For Mat Marshall, the future of the party looks bright.

"I’m hopeful this becomes the norm, and we’re not going to fall into disarray because they’ve never had to exercise the process before."

Contact Christina Jedra at cjedra@delawareonline.com, (302) 324-2837 or on Twitter @ChristinaJedra.