Marty Rendon running to replace Schwartzkopf in Delaware House
Marty Rendon wants to listen to the people. The former UNICEF Vice President for Public Policy and Advocacy announced Wednesday that he’s running to represent Rehoboth and Dewey Beach in Delaware’s House of Representatives.
If he wins, he would replace Peter Schwartzkopf, who represented District 14 for more than two decades — and served as House speaker for 11 years.
Rendon, who’s gay, has spent his career in the halls of power, starting as an intern for U.S. Sen. George McGovern, working behind the scenes for House lawmakers, and working his way up to the vice president level at the United Nations Children’s Fund. “I think it pays to have somebody who actually knows the ropes,” Rendon said in an interview Tuesday. “[Someone] who knows how to pass a bill, knows how you work with legislators, knows how you work with advocacy groups, knows how you build momentum for a cause and how you go to the halls of the legislature and advocate for something.
That’s my specialty.” Rendon, who currently sits on Delaware’s Human and Civil Rights Commission, lists several priorities on his website, including responding to environmental threats, securing affordable housing, improving transportation, attracting more medical services to the area, supporting schools, helping small businesses, and protecting civil rights.
