The Official Delaware Liberal MVP Winners For 2020
“Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.” JFK used that quote often. This is a year to celebrate all the contributors to the most successful electoral year in Delaware progressive political history. We’ll leave Jane Brady and that guy from Shop-Rite to wallow in the dregs of defeat.
15. Cerron Cade. Secretary of Labor. Progressives tell me that he’s been the real deal when it comes to responding to the needs of workers during the Covid crisis. I’m also told he has a political future if he wants it.
14. Karen Lantz. Delaware ACLU’s Political Director. A driving force on the education funding suit and on behalf of criminal justice reform.
13. Jesse Scarane. While she didn’t win, she ran a great race that was definitely hindered by the pandemic, a race that really had to be run. She also used her platform as a statewide candidate to feature many of the down-ballot legislative candidates. Selfless and sincere. I hope that this is just the first time that we see her name in the public arena. Hmmm, does she live in Gerald Brady’s district??
12. The State And Regional Democratic Party Leaders. Erik Raser-Schramm, Jesse Chadderdon, Dave Woodside and Cassandra Marshall. The state party I never expected to see in Delaware–receptive to challengers and a home for progressive activists. Finally, a big-tent Democratic Party.
11. The Incredible Leaders And Volunteers Who Led Their Campaigns. Please feel free to add any names that I’ve missed: Crystal Womack (Rae Moore’s Campaign Manager); Karl Stomberg (Madinah Wilson-Anton’s campaign manager); Giuvel Rivera (Eric Morrison’s campaign manager); Kailyn Richards/Tyeisha Grier (Marie Pinkney’s campaign leaders); Maddy Starling (Kyle Evans Gay’s volunteer coordinator); Gary Steelman (Larry Lambert’s key campaign operative); Chris Sinkiewicz (Shane Darby’s campaign manager); Kirsten Walther (Jess Scarane’s campaign manager); Phoebe Lucas (Sarah McBride’s campaign manager); Joe Connor (the man was a machine, I tell ya’, a machine).
10. Delaware United, Network Delaware, Leftward Delaware, Working Families Party. All four groups promote progressivism in slightly different ways. Delaware United especially focuses on legislative priorities under the superb leadership of Dustyn Thompson, the other three groups have been essential in recruiting, training, staffing and promoting the candidacies of progressives running for office. They work together in an extraordinarily cooperative manner. All were essential this year in the progressive victories. Delaware United has an incredible legislative platform that they are pushing to enact. Read it, and support it. Since I started writing this piece, Leftward Delaware and the Working Families Party have merged into the Working Families Party Of Delaware.
OK, you can all feel free to place these successful challengers in whatever order you’d like. I have my personal favorites. However, in each case, the challenger placed the Delaware General Assembly in a more progressive position than their predecessor had. So, I will list them in alphabetical order by last name along with my comments:
Tie: 2. Kyle Evans Gay. After winning a three-way primary, and swiftly uniting her primary opponents behind her, Kyle defeated 20-year incumbent/do-nothing Cathy Cloutier in a pretty close race. In so doing, she flipped a seat that had been in Republican hands for as long as I can remember. Kyle ran on a progressive platform, voted for progressive senate leadership, and is now part of a Senate D super-majority. I had a chance to help her out a little, and I really like her.
Tie: 2. Larry Lambert. Larry handily defeated one-term incumbent Ray Seigfried in a one-on-one matchup after having narrowly lost to Ray in a 5-way primary in 2018. Ray didn’t suck, but his priorities were not the same as Larry’s, who ran as a true progressive. After losing, Seigfried criticized the progressive insurgency while praising the Delaware Way. In other words, he justified my vote, as well as the votes of many others who voted for Larry.
Tie: 2. Spiros Mantzavinos. Spiros reclaimed the senate seat that Patti Blevins had frittered away to Second Amendment absolutist Anthony Delcollo. He voted for the progressive leadership team in the Senate, and he is now part of a Democratic super-majority. He also stepped up to run when nobody else would. He deserves props for that. Delcollo will be staff attorney to the Senate Rethuglican Caucus. If he thinks that carrying the water for that group of RWNJ dead-enders will somehow resurrect his political career, he’s mistaken. Although he could run against Kathleen Jennings for AG in 2022, and lose by 20 points.
Tie: 2. Sarah McBride. On one hand, she replaces the most progressive legislator among the predecessors on the list. OTOH, someone was going to replace Sen. McDowell real soon, and, in Sarah’s case, we could not have asked for a better replacement. Young, a proven coalition-builder, dedicated to equality for all, a person already of national stature. Everybody who knows her likes her. She also ensured the election of a progressive leadership team in the Senate, as Harris was obligated to vote for the (Dave) McBride/Poore slate in order to keep his spot on JFC. Sarah, of course, voted for the Sokola/Townsend/Lockman team. Can’t wait to see what legislation she introduces.
Tie: 2. Sherae’a Moore. The latest victorious candidate to enter the fray, Rae replaces one of Delaware’s true DINO’s in Quin Johnson, whose surprise retirement was a gift to the progressive cause. Rae was the most progressive candidate in the three-way primary, and prevailed in both the primary and the general elections. When you replace a Quin Johnson with a Rae Moore, that is progress that’s almost impossible to quantify. Meaning, it’s a lot.
Tie: 2. Eric Morrison. ‘When you replace a good ol’ boy Delaware Way insider like Earl Jaques with an Eric Morrison, that is progress that’s almost impossible to quantify.’ Morrison won that primary in a blow-out, and then won the general election with a similar percentage of the vote (just about 62%). We know that Jaques had been a strong charter advocate, so this is a huge win for public education. Not to mention, check out Morrison’s positions on the issues. Plus, that caucus needs more representatives willing to confront that leadership team. John Kowalko just may have another ally.
Tie: 2. Marie Pinkney. I simply cannot express the joy I continue to feel about Marie Pinkney and her successful campaign to unseat President Pro-Tem Dave McBride. For me, it ranks right there with Bryan Townsend knocking off Tiny Tony DeLuca. I honestly think that she started out running this time with an eye on winning next time. From the start, she was incredibly disciplined, made great use of the limited resources available to her, and began to see a pathway to victory. People, including me, Joe Connor, and many others, flocked to her campaign because she is a great person who was running for the right reasons. Our DL MVP Of The Year (patience, my friends) focused a lot of his attention on this race. Marie Pinkney narrowly pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Delaware legislative history. A huge blow for the progressive movement in Delaware. I predict that she will do great things in Dover.
Tie: 2. Madinah Wilson-Anton. It ended up close, largely due to a suspicious third entry into the primary. But Madinah knocked off (a) an undistinguished back-bencher; (b) an ally of the unethical Tony DeLuca; and (c) an enabler for Speaker Pete and Our PAL Val, all in the persona of one John Viola. Talk about running for the right reasons, check out her platform. She ran in large part out of her first-hand experience in working for the General Assembly, and at her revulsion at the Delaware Way tradition. Even before she was elected, she was providing constituent services to some of her neediest constituents, many of whom were not eligible to vote. She, too, is someone I am simply thrilled to see in Dover. She is both compassionate and effective.
1. Drew Serres. Delaware’s Pied Piper Of Progressivism. Not only did he recruit and train candidates, recruit and train campaign operatives, run Network Delaware as a citizens’ action organization, and help develop progressive organizations throughout the state, he stepped in and played a vital role on key campaigns, especially for the primaries. He is an incredibly inclusive person, and it drives his philosophy of political participation. The development of grassroots progressive participation that he began to build during Eugene Young’s run for mayor of Wilmington paid off big-time this year. In the most successful progressive cycle in Delaware history, when there were literally hundreds of people who made a difference, Drew Serres helped to orchestrate this success. He is an easy choice for DL’s MVP Of The Year.
I first met Drew Serres at REV’s house. He was holding a get together to introduce Kerri Harris. It was a big diverse crowd of Dems united in disgust for Carper (and little else). While Harris was understandably green as green could be, Drew managed the meeting in such a quietly masterful way that I walked away so fucking impressed.
I thought something like, well if this guy is onboard this campaign is going somewhere.
That’s when I first met him as well. He doesn’t seek the limelight, but he sure as hell deserves it.
It was an amazing year with so much progress on so many fronts. This is an excellent summary which captures the fact that the movement is bigger than any election.
I’m impressed, real progress. Now if we could just get rid of the cop worshipers like Swartzkopf.
Well, the recruiting has already begun…
Wow I am gob smacked, Thank you for the shout out! #1 is the PERFECT choice. It was an absolute honor to work with Drew. My first Political mentors were Kendall McDowell Wilson and Ted Kaufman. On any fantasy team they are equals!
Many DOL workers would disagree on Cerron Cade. He’s a bully. The only recent Secretary to spend less time in the building (pre-Covid) was Tom Sharp.
Ruth Ann Minner, at the urging of Mark Brainard, appointing both Tom Sharp and Richard Cordrey to cabinet positions, was cronyism at its worst. She flushed whatever credibility she had left right down the toilet.
Sharp, in turn, made sure that Tiny Tony DeLuca and John Viola helped bury workplace civil rights complaints while he was Secretary, as did his immediate successor, who was a Sharp crony.
Lots of abuses under Minner; she sacked Karen Peterson the day she took office because she had beef with Peterson’s father. That kind of bullshit is still there, just lower profile. The point was that DOL still isn’t very well run, and the only Secretary to spend less time actually there in the past 30 years than Cade was Sharp.
Well, he’s not throwing civil rights complaints in the trash, either.
He seems to give a shit about all workers, not just the white construction trade kind.
Point taken, but the giving a shit doesn’t necessarily apply to the people working under him. More self-interested than selfless there.
I don’t think the shameful active neglect of complaints originated at DOL, but if that is ending, all to the good.
What form does the bullying take?
After Carney was elected, Cade (Carney’s campaign mgr., I believe) was installed as head of the new little DEDO (Small Business Development Center). I was running the office at DOL that maintained the state employer database, which contains mandatory and confidential data from every employer in the state. The DB was tightly controlled, provided to UD and Temple for research, and to the original DEDO. We were concerned it would go to the new PPP, where some of the private-sector people could access confidential data from their competitors. The Unemployment Insurance Director (UI ‘owned’ the DB) referred the question of access to the AG’s office.
My first contact with Cade was him calling to ask for the DB. I explained to him what I’ve said above. In the month or so it took the AG to decide, he called me about a half-dozen times, at first with charm, then not so much, finally demanding I immediately give him the DB he was ‘entitled’ to. It was my job not to do that unless and until the AG said to; he thought he could pressure me to just give it to him, and seemed surprised when that failed.
Thanks for the response.
What kind of data is collected that would be useful to competitors? Could that data be redacted or is that the data they specifically wanted?
Employment by location, wages, UI taxes and taxable wages. That’s important information, so redacting would seriously diminish the value of the data (compiled quarterly).
I get it, you don’t like Cerron Cade.
Point taken.
Here’s the thing. Gas may not be entirely wrong here. Worst kept secret was that Cade was running people like DeLuca and those old guards out of DOL. These old guys made life hard for people like Gilliam and Cade wasn’t having it. Made quick work of DeLuca and a few others. Sounds like this gentleman/lady was “a few others.” If thats the case, move Cade higher up the list. Its about time we had a “take no crap” progressive.
Where’s my ‘like’ button?
Rooting out assholes doesn’t necessarily make you a good guy. Talk to the people who have worked under him.
I’ve talked to him twice. One time was after I’d written something critical about him. He was open and reasonable both times.
Small sample size, I know, but he was about as far from being a jerk as you could imagine. So far, you are a Chorus Of One.
Not to mention, if he used his office to get rid of DeLuca and his cronies, he deserves permanent residency on this list.
Time to move on…your dissent is duly noted.
This rings true to me. The guy had a fair amount of detail so I figured him to be real. I have little personal experience with Mr Cade apart from social media but he strikes me as a straight shooter. I have broad deep and decidedly unpleasant experience with Tiny Tony and his mentor Sharp. I think Anon has it right!
Now personally, I know that he was/is very visible. More than any other Secretary. Pre-Covid, I always saw him at community events, Labor meetings, in the Hall, at my apprenticeship program… repeatedly. He was probably never in the office. I can see how a guy like DeLuca would probably be turned off by someone like that challenging his role as the Real Secretary and consider it showmanship. I never got that from him. Just seems like a guy who gives a damn.
Hats off to Drew Serres. He is an organizers organizer. I love Cerron too. Also, there is an organizer named Andy Powers who formed a chapter of the DSA here in Delaware. They were very active on the Scarane and Anton Wilson campaigns. I think they deserve an honorable mention.
Calvin: My intent this year is to give props to everyone who played a part in this year’s victories.
Accordingly, a DL Shout-Out to Andy Powers.
Lots of awesome people on this list that I’ve been honored to work with, and even more who didn’t make the list but were huge contributors to the progressive movement this year by working on multiple campaigns; Will Weidner, Jamie Rubin, Dan Carapezzi, Noa Becker, Yejoon Koh, and Molly Clark.
Coby Owens is deserving of a huge shout out, while I didn’t work directly with him on anything, the events that he organized while simultaneously running for office himself and continuously speaking up on behalf of people within the City of Wilmington and demanding more from our politicians, really helped gain momentum and awareness for more progressive policies needed in this state.
Thanks! Keep the names coming, folks. Jamie Rubin was everywhere!
Love this article it’s hilarious and well written and everyone in it deserves a shoutout! Thank you for writing this hopefully some of the people will join the new leaders in office one day! Hint hint