By Rachel Sawicki

WILMINGTON — An eight-month term for the House of Representatives’ 4th District seat will be decided between two candidates in a special election March 5.

The position was left open by the resignation of Democratic Rep. Gerald Brady earlier this month. Mr. Brady, who cited a struggle with hearing loss and PTSD when sharing his departure in January, is also facing charges in connection with a shoplifting incident a few days after his announcement.

On Feb. 7, Democratic members of the 4th District Committee nominated former Wilmington City Councilman Charles “Bud” Freel, who grew up in the city, graduated from Salesianum School and the University of Delaware, and started a career in politics at age 18.

He served as an at-large member of City Council for 16 years (1997-2013), followed by an eight-year term as its 8th District representative from 2013-21.

Mr. Freel said he is coming out of his two-year retirement just for the duration of the term and does not intend to run for reelection when it ends.

“I had some folks reach out to me. … It wasn’t something I went looking for, but I gave it strong consideration,” he said. “I considered my years of experience, both on the executive and the legislative side, and the fact that I was not interested in running again. I thought (that) made me a good fit. It’s a way for me to help the party out and for me to serve the residents of the 4th District, which a big part of the 4th District is my old council district.”

The Republican nominee, Ted Kittila, is also a native Delawarean. He grew up in Seaford but has raised his family in Wilmington. He graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in international relations and went to the University of Minnesota Law School. He is the managing partner of Halloran Farkas + Kittila and has earned several notable achievements, including a former position as chair of the International Section of the Delaware State Bar Association.

He also ran for state attorney general in 2014 but lost in a five-way race.

Mr. Kittila isn’t interested in just “sitting” in the legislative seat for eight months. Following the term, due to redrawn boundaries, the 4th District will move to Sussex County, and he plans to run against either the incumbent senator or the incumbent representative in his new district.

“I’m seeing some things that I’m concerned about and seeing some bad policy choices that are being made that discourage people here in the state of Delaware,” he said. “I think that Delaware needs more than one-party rule. There needs to be real debate in the General Assembly. … Sitting members are not going to be challenged, and to me, that’s not a good thing for this district. It’s not a good thing for the people here who, during this eight-month period, are going to need a voice in Dover.”

Following the election in March, the candidate would be present for about 30 General Assembly sessions before lawmakers finish up June 30.

Mr. Freel said he doesn’t plan on proposing any legislation and that he’ll only be getting up to speed on current bills, so he is prepared to vote when they hit the floor.

“I do support the family medical leave bill that will be coming up, and I do support trying to make it easier for people to vote in elections,” he said. “There’s some issues about police reform that, I think, if it comes to the floor, could be positive for both the community and the police departments in our state.”

Some of Mr. Freel’s most notable accomplishments from his time in office, he said, are the introduction of single-stream recycling in Wilmington, as well as improving housing stock by holding landlords accountable and creating affordable options for first-time homebuyers.
He was also the longest-serving chair of finance in the history of Wilmington, which he said included the difficult job of trying to maintain a competitive tax structure. He held the post 12 years.

Among Mr. Kittila’s key issues are education and police reform.

“I think it’s very important that parents and teachers have their interests aligned,” he said. “I know that the teachers in my school district when I grew up really counted on parents having involvement and staying on top of things, as well. There should never be a situation where we have parents feeling like they don’t know what’s going on with their children. It’s just critical.”

On police reform, he added that he supports it but thinks some proposals include bad methods of addressing it.

“Bad policy choices, like saying that we’re going to make police disciplinary reports public,” Mr. Kittila said. “What would you do if the police reports were made public? What is a supervising captain going to do if he’s got somebody he needs to discipline? Do you think that’s going to incentivize him to discipline his subordinate? Absolutely not. It actually incentivizes people to do worse.”

Expanding tax credits for seniors — “the backbone of the retirement community here in Delaware” — and returning surpluses to state residents are “pretty darn key,” he added.

In addition, Mr. Kittila said that, as a lawyer, he spends a lot of time on client services, which he believes directly helps constituents. He also noted that he wants to “restore some dignity back to the seat,” after Mr. Brady’s resignation and later arrest.

Mr. Kittila said he knows that running as a Republican in a largely Democratic area will be a challenge but noted that many crossed party lines and voted for him in his race for attorney general.

“I should not have gotten approximately 40% of the vote in the state when I ran, … if people voted by the virtue of their registration or whatever party they were registered with,” he said. “So my view is that my message and, I think, my ability to talk with people and to approach them has been able to cross party lines. I’ve got a job to do if you’re a constituent, whether you are D or R or whatever you are.”

The special election is March 5 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the assigned polling places in District 4. Early voting, which starts Tuesday and ends March 3, is available at the Carvel State Office Building in Wilmington from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.