‘No kings in Wilmington’: Fight over party representation on City Council heightened with move to oust former Republican

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Wilmington City Council voted Thursday night to remove a fellow council member after he switched parties earlier this year.

Council President Ernest “Trippy” Congo had threatened to oust fellow member James Spadola for months before this week’s vote for switching from Republican to Democrat last October.

Thursday’s vote was 8-to-1 with Congo and Council members Coby Owens, Alexander Hackett, Shané Darby, Zanthia Oliver, Chris Johnson, Christian Willauer and Yolanda McCoy voting yes. Spadola was the sole no vote. Two members, Nathan Field and Latisha Bracy, voted “present” and three members were absent.

But Spadola, who was elected in 2020 and reelected in 2024 as a Republican, will stay in office for now. He filed a lawsuit against Congo and his colleagues days before the vote and Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen McCormick issued a temporary stay hours before the meeting.

Spadola said before Thursday’s vote that McCormick expressed surprise that the council would choose to go ahead before she could rule on the merits of the case.

“But like you said, council president, this vote will have no force or effect,” Spadola said. “It is a show vote.”

There’s historically been at least one Republican on Wilmington City Council because of a provision in the city’s charter, which says each party can nominate only three members for the four at-large seats.

Because just three Democrats can be on the general election ballot, a Republican has always won the fourth at-large seat.

Spadola argues that there is nothing in the city’s charter that prohibits a member from changing their political affiliation.

He announced his move to the Democrats in October 2025. He said it was a matter of conscience.

“All the excesses of [President Donald] Trump 2.0 and being an elected official under that regime was simply too much,” he said. “So that’s why I switched.”

But Congo has accused him of using a “loophole” in the charter to undermine its intent. The charter is silent on party changes and only stipulates the maximum number of candidates each party can nominate for the four at-large seats.

Congo has said he accepted the city’s legal conclusion that Spadola did not violate the charter early on, but has since come to believe he has been misled. His resolution asserted that Spadola “made the choice to disenfranchise” 15% of the voters in the city.

“It’s very clear what the charter intended, to have some representation from a minority party, and that’s always been the Republican Party,” Congo told WHYY News in March. “It could be the Green Party, it could be the Independent Party, it could be any party.”

The council president did not respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this year, Congo sent Spadola a letter warning him to rejoin the GOP by Feb. 16, or “we will consider next steps, including declaring your seat vacant.”

Spadola instead hired a lawyer.

The battle over the switch of Spadola’s political affiliation and the move to vacate the seat has boiled over recently.

At an April 2 meeting held to discuss a resolution urging state lawmakers to change the city’s charter to specifically require a nonmajority party member to always have a seat on council, Spadola characterized Congo’s moves to unseat him as undemocratic.

“You do not get to vacate seats based off of the vibes or when somebody got into your ear. I say, firmly, no kings in D.C., but no kings in Wilmington either,” he said.

Congo called Spadola’s characterization “absurd.” He said the majority of the City Council is behind him.