Why Should Delaware Care?
Democrats control the Delaware House of Representatives, but new disputes continue to embroil the party and put it at risk of being able to pass some legislation. The latest issue highlights a rift between a left-leaning wing of the party and its leadership.
A splinter in the Democratic Party is growing wider after Rep. Sherae’a “Rae” Moore hired a lawyer and sent a cease-and-desist letter to House Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown, claiming she’s trying to “cancel” the Middletown representative for not supporting the controversial Senate Bill 21 earlier this year.
Moore and Minor-Brown were already at odds this year after the House speaker stripped Moore of her position on the House Education Committee following reporting from the News Journal that she had let her teaching license lapse.
At the time, Moore blamed that move as retaliation for opposing a bill from Committee Chair Kim Williams that was similar to a measure she had proposed to provide free school lunches to Delaware students.
In a letter drafted by Wilmington lawyer Thomas Neuberger that was sent to the House speaker on Tuesday, however, Moore goes farther in blaming Minor-Brown’s criticisms and actions toward her as retaliation for opposing SB 21, which reformed the state’s corporate incorporation industry.
Moore was one of only seven votes against the bill that needed a three-fifths majority to pass, joining some lawmakers who affiliate with the Working Families Party. She claims that Minor-Brown has said she would support a primary election challenger to Moore in the 2026 election cycle.
Neuberger also threatens to sue the top House Democrat and seek financial compensation if she does not stop impugning Moore.
“[Moore] is marching to the beat of her own drummer and following her conscience, not marching slavishly to your wishes of what a Delaware Democrat should be. You now seek to destroy her for it,” wrote Neuberger, a well-known civil rights and class action lawyer. “But the First Amendment, the Delaware Constitution and Delaware common law all will ensure that you will be held accountable for your lies about my client.”
Neuberger writes that Minor-Brown was “angered by [Moore’s] public opposition to and refusal to fall in line on this significant legislation [SB 21] with both local and national implications.” Leaders of both the House and Senate joined with Gov. Matt Meyer to pass SB 21 in March to try to stem a tide of corporate defections from Delaware, which feed the state’s economy.
On Tuesday, Neuberger told Spotlight Delaware that Moore’s opposition to SB 21 is the reason for Minor-Brown’s alleged targeting.
“Everything else, like the school lunches bill, is simply covering up the truth,” he said.
But Neuberger also particularly calls out harsh language from the House Speaker against Moore in a May 13 interview with Delaware Public Media regarding the stripping of the committee position, where the leader said, “I don’t know how we can sit here and turn a blind eye to a situation where we clearly know that somebody was in a classroom teaching who should not have been in the classroom holding children’s lives in their hands.”
The longtime lawyer, who has successfully sued major figures like the late Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, former New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon and even the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington over the years, said that the severity of those comments surprised even him when he first read them.
He argued that accusing Moore of being a danger to children went beyond any official capacity and entered into defamatory conduct. There is no known precedent of one legislator suing another in Delaware, but Neuberger said that his client is prepared to do so and case law in other states, including a recent case from Maine, supports their ability to file one.
For now, the cease-and-desist letter serves as a shot across the bow of sorts. It demands that the House Speaker stop any defamatory conduct within the next 30 days and asks for a written apology.
When asked for her comment on the letter and its demands, Minor-Brown said in a statement, “Truthfully, it has been an extremely busy session day — especially given Rep. Stell Parker Selby’s announcement this morning — so I haven’t had a chance to review Rep. Moore’s letter yet. Right now, with 3 days of session left, I’m focused on making sure we meet our constitutional deadline to pass a balanced budget by June 30 and that we’re delivering for our constituents.”
She received a vote of confidence for a somewhat unlikely source, as Republican Rep. Bryan Shupe denied the claims brought forward Tuesday in a statement on social media.
He backed the House Speaker’s argument that Moore’s removal from the House Education Committee, where Shupe is also a member, was due to her introduction of a bill amendment that would have benefited her as an educator without a full teaching license.
“Speaker Minor-Brown removed Rep. Moore from the Education Committee because pushing forward legislation that personally benefits you is a clear conflict of interest and a violation of the oath of office we take as elected officials in Delaware,” Shupe wrote. “Rep. Moore now claims she was removed because of her vote on the Corporate Franchise Bill — but that’s simply not true. I was in the room.”
