Last Thursday night, the 18th District Democratic RD Committee selected David Bentz as its candidate in the upcoming state House of Representatives special election. Bentz will be seeking to succeed current Rep. Mike Barbieri, whose resignation will take affect at the end of July. A special election will held at some point in early to mid September according to law. Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf will announce the date of the special election early next week.
Bentz, 29, was the legislative aide for Barbieri, who announced his resignation earlier this month. Barbieri resigned to become the new director of the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health for the Department of Health and Social Services.
“I’m honored to have the committee’s nomination and plan to hit the ground running. I have worked closely with the residents of the 18th District on their issues, and I will be able to continue that high level of constituent services if I’m fortunate enough to be elected,” Bentz said in a written statement.
“We have a lot of challenging issues facing Delaware, and I intend to fight for our middle class by pushing for good-paying jobs and better educational opportunities, and making sure our economic policies don’t unfairly burden them. A strong middle class is essential to a healthy Delaware economy. That is where our focus must be.”
Bentz has been Rep. Barbieri’s legislative aide for 4 years, since 2011. Prior to that, he earned his Master’s Degree at the University of Delaware in Public Administration. He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Penn State. Other than that, non-Leg Hall insiders don’t know much about the young candidate. Hopefully we will get to sit down later in August to talk with him.
I have been told the Republicans will also have a candidate for the special election, which is good given the recent history of low turnout elections in New Castle County, Delaware (hint: the GOP usually wins those. But I am heartened to see that Mr. Bentz is already hitting the pavement in the district, using the Bryan Townsend method of retail politics.