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Cathcart: "No regrets" leaving

House Minority Leader Richard Cathcart stunned many local political observers this week by announcing that he is retiring from the General Assembly after nearly two decades of service. The Republican lawmaker will not seek reelection as the representative from the House 9th District (Middletown).

Cathcart says the pressures and stress of holding the seat in the the General Assembly and his full-time job as associate vice president of university operations at Delaware State University led to his decision.

"The responsibilities at the university and being in leadership in the legislature really created a situation where I was really doing two full-time jobs," Cathcart said in an interview today. "I had some issues with blood pressure that I'd never had before, and, after having some visits with the doctors, we understand its very, very manageable. There's nothing major going on with my health.  But the stress piece of it is very manageable as long as I get rid of some the stress."

Cathcart says he began discussing the possibility of retirement with his wife, Linda, in May, and decided to step aside about five weeks ago. He says he has not had any second thoughts.

"I had anticipated around the announcement date that I would being waffling a bit and having 'buyer's remorse,' but once we made the decision I became very, very comfortable with the decision," he said.

Cathcart first served in the General Assembly from 1978 to 1982. He returned in 1997 after winning a special election in the 9th District and was elected as House Majority Leader in 2007. After Democrats took control of the House in the 2008 election, Cathcart became House Minority Leader.

Cathcart points to his work on legislation to improve conditions at the Delaware Psychiatric Center as one of his proudest achievements. One disappointment, he says, was the inability to move forward legislation on workforce housing to rein in development density.

Cathcart says he will finish out his term as House Minority Leader, which ends with November's election.

"I'm not going away," said Cathcart. "I'll continue to work even harder now to help [his Republican colleagues] in their campaigns and their endeavors. It's not that I'm going away and they'll never see me between now and November. I work just as hard, if not harder under these circumstances."

Cathcart has endorsed a longtime member of his campaign team, former police officer John Marino, in his effort to take the 9th District seat. Marino officially filed to run this week.

"He's been very, very active in his community. He's just a quality guy. He understands the political piece of it, and I just think he'll make a great state representative," said Cathcart.

Democrat Richard Griffiths has also filed to run in the 9th District.

DFM News sat down with Rep. Cathcart this week to discuss his retirement and life in the General Assembly, touching on topics including the impact of new open-government laws on Legislative Hall, to the future of Republican Party in the House, to some surprising thoughts on the state of "Delaware Way" bipartisanship. Click here for excerpts from the interview.