State Rep. Paul Baumbach is ready to be forgotten.
The Newark Democrat surprised colleagues last week when he announced plans to retire from the state legislature this year rather than run for his seventh term in the November election.
In an interview, Baumbach said he is ready to step aside and let the younger generation lead, enthused by newer legislators like Rep. Sophie Phillips, who have brought an influx of youth, passion and progressive ideals to Dover.
“We've got all these rock stars there. That just gives me the confidence that I can step aside, and I think it's not going to take long for people to forget who the hell I was,” Baumbach said. “And that's a good thing.”
Though he filed for re-election earlier this year, he said he had been contemplating retirement for the past few months. However, he kept that close to the vest until announcing it on the floor of the House on June 13, with his wife, Pam, standing by his side.
He said he wanted to leave when things were going well and when he is confident there is a worthy successor waiting in the wings.
“I found at least one person who I know is planning to run and that sort of takes some of the weight off of me,” he said. “I think that it's common for elected officials to want to make sure that they're not leaving the ship without a captain.”
On Monday, Democrat Mara Gorman announced plans to run for the seat. A resident of Newark's Cherry Hill neighborhood, Gorman is public affairs manager for Planned Parenthood of Delaware and formerly led the local chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
Other candidates have until July 9 to file. The heavily Democratic District 23 encompasses the northern half of Newark, plus parts of North Star and Pike Creek.
The Newark area is now guaranteed to have at least two new faces representing it in Dover next January. In addition to Baumbach, Pike Creek Republican Mike Ramone decided to run for governor instead of seeking re-election to his House seat.
Baumbach, who lives in the Evergreen neighborhood, was first elected in 2012 and was unopposed in the next four elections. He easily defeated a Republican challenger in 2022 to win his sixth term.
His retirement announcement comes as one of his signature pieces of legislation, the medical aid in dying bill, nears its final vote. House Bill 140 would allow for physician-assisted death.
Baumbach has been working on the issue since 2015, and it passed the House for the first time last month. It is now awaiting a vote in the Senate.
He said he is pleased with how support for the bill has gradually increased.
“The support really is broadening, and I don't think it needs to have me as an inside legislator pushing it,” he said. “If it does not make it across the finish line, I'd be back, I just wouldn't be back as a legislator. I would just be a citizen advocating for it very pointedly.”
He implored the Senate and governor to listen to the dying patients who are advocating for the bill.
“There's nothing more compelling,” he said “A deathbed confession holds up in court because you should be listening to people who are dying.”
He said he is also proud of his work on reforming retiree heath benefits and passing gun control legislation.
“I got elected a month and a half before Sandy Hook and the elementary school kids got gunned down,” Baumbach said. “We have made tremendous progress. Our biggest piece was this year with permit-to-purchase, and that will save lives. There's no way we could have gotten that done when I first came in.”
One of his biggest regrets is that the legislature wasn't able to pass a constitutional amendment allowing early voting and no-excuse absentee ballots. He blamed Republicans who initially supported the idea but flipped their votes after voting by mail became politically unpopular on the right.
“One of my disappointments is our state started catching the D.C. virus and got more acrimonious and less policy-based and more dumb-stuff-based,” he said. “That's frustrating.”
Along with his pending retirement, Baumbach recently sold his financial advising company, though he still plans to work there part-time.
“I'm going from around 60-to-70-hour weeks to 60-to-70-hour months,” he said, adding that he is looking forward to spending more time with family and more time hiking, camping and playing pickleball and tennis.
He thanked his constituents for being involved in local politics, expressing their passion for issues and pushing him to tackle important issues.
“I'll take engagement over complacency anytime,” Baumbach said. “It's a challenge at times, but it's very satisfying to have an engaged district. And I don't think there's any district more engaged than the 23rd.”
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