Why Should Delaware Care?
Wilmington’s charter requires at least one of the city’s four at-large council members to be elected as a member of a minority party. In the liberal city, the rule ensures that one member of the City Council will not be a Democrat. After the council’s lone Republican became a Democrat last fall, questions of whether the policy goal has been undone has propelled a debate in recent weeks — one that could have broader political implications.
The political fight over the Wilmington City Council’s partisan makeup is escalating, and could end up in court.
City Council President Earnest “Trippi” Congo last week proposed a resolution that would remove his colleague, Councilman James Spadola, from his seat.
In response, Spadola told Spotlight Delaware that he is “considering legal options.”
Congo’s legislation, filed April 30, comes amid a months-long debate in Wilmington over Spadola’s decision last fall to switch his political party from Republican to Democrat.
Some Democratic Party leaders called Spadola’s switch a win for the party. But several members of the all-Democratic City Council said he had exploited a “loophole” in the city’s charter.
Another council member noted that Spadola and Congo may each have plans to run for higher office.
Spadola, for his part, has said his colleagues on the council have misinterpreted the city’s charter.
Wilmington’s charter prohibits a majority party – currently Democrats – from nominating more than three candidates for the city’s four at-large seats on the council. The rule, which guarantees the election of at least one minority party candidate, does not state that council members cannot change party affiliation while in office.
In February, Congo cited the charter in a letter to Spadola, stating his seat would be declared vacant if he did not switch back to the Republican Party.
In response, Spadola said Congo was acting like a king.
“I say firmly, no kings in [Washington] D.C, but no kings in Wilmington either,” Spadola said last month, referencing recent protests against President Donald Trump
Congo’s current proposal to declare Spadola’s council seat vacant states that the intent of the city’s charter is to ensure representation for minority parties. The resolution also states that Spadola was elected over other candidates because of his party affiliation, and claimed that his choice to become a Democrat has “disenfranchise[d] approximately 15% of non-majority voters.”
Congo did not respond to a request to comment for this story.
His resolution has seven co-sponsors on the 13-member City Council, including Councilmembers Alexander Hackett, Coby Owens, Shane Darby, Zanthia Oliver, Christian Willauer, Yolanda McCoy, and Chris Johnson.
“I believe interpretation and intention of the law was not for someone to run for that seat, and then think they can switch to a Democrat, and now we have all Democrat representation,” Darby told Spotlight Delaware.
Owens said that before changing parties, Spadola could have pushed for a charter amendment to remove the language requiring the election of a minority party member.
“But that’s not what was done,” he said.
The four City Council members who did not co-sponsor Congo’s resolution included Maria Cabrera and Latisha Bracy who could not be reached for comment, and Nathan Field and Michelle Harlee who declined to comment.
In response to Congo’s resolution, Spadola told Spotlight Delaware that he has “full faith that the rule of law will prevail” while he considers his legal options. He said he was elected by people, not a political party and the council should not attempt to empty his seat through a resolution.
“This is an attempt to disenfranchise Wilmington voters, full stop. Some Councilmembers want to replace an elected citywide representative with an unelected appointee during budget season (the most consequential vote of the year) based on a party-representation rule that does not exist,” Spadola said in a statement to Spotlight Delaware.
Get Involved: The Wilmington City Council will consider Congo’s resolution during a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday inside Council Chambers at the Louis L. Redding City/County Building, located at 800 N. French St. in Wilmington.
‘All rights to seek declaratory judgment’
After switching parties from Republican to Democrat in October, Spadola told Spotlight Delaware he had considered making the move for the previous five years.
He finally did so because of his disagreement with several ongoing policies associated with President Donald Trump, including tariffs, ICE enforcement, and federal troop deployments into U.S. cities, he said.
Last fall, the city council’s chief of staff Elijah Simmons said Spadola would be able to finish his term, which ends in 2028. He said the city’s charter contained “no written prohibitions against party affiliation changes while in office.”
Congo also previously asserted that the city’s law department gave him a similar response.
Since Wilmington’s voter registration is heavily Democratic, three of the four at-large City Council seats have historically gone to Democrats, leaving a single seat for a Republican Party candidate.
Spadola was first elected in 2020. He was re-elected in 2024 after finishing fourth among the at-large candidates and just ahead of first-time Republican challenger Shawn Dottery.
After his party switch, the City Council was relatively quiet about the matter. But in March Congo told Spotlight Delaware that conversations with other council members, city residents, and various attorneys led him to send his February letter telling Spadola that he had to change his party affiliation back to Republican.
Spadola has hired William Larson, an attorney with the Wilmington firm MG+M. In a subsequent letter to Congo, Larson asserted that the city’s charter does not prohibit Spadola from changing party affiliation.
“We reserve all rights to seek declaratory judgment, an injunction, and additional relief in the Court of Chancery should you take any further action to vacate Councilmember Spadola’s seat,” Larson said in the Feb. 12 letter.
A City Council seat that becomes vacant more than 30 days before a primary election will be filled by voters in the next general election.
