DOVER, Del. - After announcing that he would step down as Speaker of the House in June, Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, said this week that he will retire at the end of his current term.
"My wife was pretty sick last year and she was in the hospital for five days," Schwartzkopf told CoastTV on Wednesday. "She turned out to have something serious, but not that serious, so I made a promise to her then that I would step down at some point."
Schwartzkopf said he has been planning his retirement since August but waited to step down and announce it. He considered the timeline of when an official can step down and allow his party to place someone in his role. If he stepped down sooner to care for his wife, he said the Republican Party would have ended up taking his seat automatically.
"At the end of the first year is the perfect opportunity," he said. Schwartzkopf was happy to be part of the historic decision to make Rep. Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear, the first female Speaker of the House in Delaware history. In January he became Speaker Pro Tempore to perform the duties of Longhurst during periods of her absence and to assist in these duties. In this role he will be able to do things other representatives won't.
At the time of writing there are two Democrats in the House from Sussex County- Schwartzkopf and Rep. Stell Parker Selby, from the Milton area. Schwartzkopf believes the next primary will be big and that many people are interested in taking over his district seat, which covers Lewes, Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach. He wouldn't share any names when asked.
Schwartzkopf has been one of the largest leadership voices in Delaware politics, and specifically as a voice from Sussex County, for over 20 years. The majority of his party is from New Castle County. With the role of speaker moving upstate, some have questioned if Sussex County will lose power in the state's political scene.
"This business I'm in is about relationships and it's about people. If you make good relationships up and down the state, that shouldn't matter, so I'm still here for another year as a normal representative and I'll continue to do that," Schwartzkopf said. "Will I be worried next year when I step down? Sure, I'll be worried. I won't have a say at that point in time. I've been here 21 years at this point and I've had good relationships with people. Maybe concerned, yes, but worried, no."
Schwartzkopf said he is beginning to relax already. He told CoastTV that his phone already isn't ringing as much for official business. He pulled it out to show us that he only had a few recent calls and that they were from the people with whom he wants to spend more time- his wife, kids and friends.
Going into his last year, his priorities are to ensure that the people who live in Sussex County are heard, though he isn't worried about how he will be remembered.
"I don't care about legacies, I don't," he said. "My mother used to tell me, 'You don't go around telling people what you've done. If you're doing good things, people know about it.'"
