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For months, the race to succeed Delaware Gov. John Carney has focused on three fellow Democrats seeking the office in a state their party dominates.

But with the Sept. 10 primary just four months away, Republicans now have a two-person race for the GOP nomination. That scenario surfaced this week when House Minority Leader Mike Ramone joined political newcomer Jerry Price, a former New York City cop, on the ballot. Price filed for the office in December.

When Ramone filed Monday, state GOP chair Julianne Murray, who had said she was also entering the race this week, announced that she would forgo a run in the interests of “party unity.” The party will endorse a candidate later this month during its annual convention.

Murray, a lawyer, had run against Carney in 2020, winning 39% of the vote — about the same as other GOP statewide candidates that year. She also ran unsuccessfully for attorney general against incumbent Kathy Jennings in 2022.

Democrats hold all nine statewide elective offices and have a nearly two-to-one advantage in voter registration. The last Republican governor was Mike Castle, who held the post from 1985 to 1993.

On the Democratic side, the candidates are Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long, New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer, and former state environmental chief Collin O’Mara.

Primary winners will face off in the Nov. 5 general election.

Ramone: ‘I think Delaware needs a breath of fresh air’

Ramone, who owns a swim club, fitness center, landscaping, pool and property management business, has represented the Pike Creek area since 2008. He became the minority leader in 2023.

Ramone announced last week that he’s not seeking re-election to the House for two reasons: he is moving to Dewey Beach, where he has long had a second home, and he was seeking the GOP gubernatorial nod.

Ramone, 62, told WHYY News that his business experience, 16 years in the General Assembly, and a lifetime spent in Delaware qualify him to head the state government.

He said the governor’s office needs new direction after 32 years in Democratic hands, especially since the state House and Senate are dominated by the majority party.

“I think Delaware needs a breath of fresh air — somebody who’s not as politically motivated, but somebody who would represent Delawareans, not one party or the other.”

As a state representative for 16 years, “I’ve learned an awful lot about the way people do things, what they do, why they do it,’’ he said. “And you know, I’m just concerned. I’m concerned our schools are deteriorating. I’m concerned health care [costs have] gone up and up and up and up.”

Ramone also cited the state’s high rate of traffic fatalities, including three in recent days, as well as the opioid crisis.

“There’s just so much that it’s concerning and it’s painful. I think we need to start prioritizing what we need to do for the people, start using a little bit of common sense, and get out of this polarizing political environment we have.”

Asked about the Democrats’ 145,000 registration advantage over Republicans in a state with 775,000 voters, Ramone asserted that should he win the nomination, he trusts voters of all political persuasions to give him a fair hearing.

“I don’t think it’s about blue and red. I think it’s about doing things better and solving problems,’’ Ramone said. “We’re all buying the same groceries, We’re all paying the same inflation. We are all having our same taxes go up. We’re all under the same social unrest and concern for safety.”

“We’re all in the exact same environment, with trying to get children coming out of our schools with the ability to function in society. We all have the same problems. It doesn’t matter if you’re red or blue. We’re all trying to make Delaware a better place to live.”

Ramone said he’d also like to make it easier for small businesses to be successful by easing the “overzealous quantity of regulations” that currently exist.

He said that as an entrepreneur who started a family flower business when he was 21, “I have the experience of knowing how to run a significantly large payroll, what it’s like to have to sign the front of the checks.”

There was no mention of a theft of taxpayer funds in York’s report, which came nearly a year after the theft was discovered. AOA spokesperson Samuel Barry said office policy  is to neither confirm or deny whether there’s an active investigation. He would not answer whether the investigation had been closed.

WHYY News requested interviews with York, DOL Secretary Carol Hubbard and UI Office Director Darryl Scott, but was told they were unavailable.

The DOL said a background check was done upon Brittingham’s hire in early 2019, which is required for people with access to federal tax information. Yet, a Delaware State Police arrest warrant stated Brittingham had been making hundreds of illegal transactions as treasurer of the Chimney Hill Homeowners Association in Felton. The warrant said payments were made to various stores, banks and NEWAGE Management LLC, his company dating back to the summer of 2018. Brittingham’s name and address on the LLC paperwork filed with the Delaware Division of Corporations match the Superior Court records.

The August 2019 warrant alleges that he stole nearly $42,890 between June 2018 and April 2019. Brittingham pleaded guilty to a Class G felony for theft of $1,500 or more. He received a two-year suspended prison sentence and spent a year on probation, court filings stated. Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clark ordered Brittingham remain on probation until he repaid the HOA the money he owed them.

Brittingham’s wages were garnished by the Superior Court, but it’s unclear how much restitution the HOA members received. Board President Mary Fallon said they got some of the money back, but didn’t respond to further requests for information. Other board members declined to comment or didn’t return calls seeking comment. The state court system declined to give the amount of restitution he paid, citing exemptions to open records.

While he was serving his sentence for felony theft, Brittingham was promoted to supervisory roles within the state agency, becoming unemployment insurance office administrator in 2021. DOL said employees are expected to self-report criminal convictions.

Ashley Ronan, a childhood friend who knew Brittingham for 31 years, said she got a message out of the blue from him in the fall of 2022 asking if she was looking for a job. He was seeking to hire an assistant.

“I’m like, ‘I have zero experience in this field,’ and he was like, ‘That’s okay, I’ll teach you everything,’” she said. “Obviously, he’s a businessman. He works for the state. He’s a friend. I had no reason to doubt him.”

Ronan said she was hired through a staffing company without a single interview. Her job began with checking Brittingham’s emails and taking notes in meetings, Then it expanded to tasks that some UI employees said contractors had no place doing, such as cutting refund checks and processing stop payments.

Employers have tax accounts with the Department of Labor and they pay into the UI trust fund based on the wages of their employees. If they pay too much, they get credits, which entitles them to a refund.

Brittingham told some of his UI subordinates in January 2023 that an employer bought a closed LLC and acquired the credits on the unemployment account, Laura Henderson stated in a written statement given to retired Delaware State Police Sgt. Evan Holmes as part of the theft investigation and reviewed by WHYY News. DOL said credits in this case were added to the fraudulent account established by Brittingham.

According to statements given to Delaware State Police, internal DOL emails and check registries, he insisted they change the name of the business’ tax account in the system to a new name: NEWAGE Management LLC.

“The accountant is upset and they have a screaming match with Michael (Brittingham), who is trying to bully us to change the name on the account,” Henderson’s police statement said.

Delaware State Police denied an open records request for a copy of the police report.

The documents obtained by WHYY News reveal that after Brittingham got another UI accountant to change the name on the account, he moved to have his friend Ashley Ronan trained to cut refund checks.

Ronan said she was asked by Brittingham to make two checks out to NEWAGE Management LLC, one for $86,827 and another for $94,357. She said she was not aware until she was interviewed by state police that the checks went to Brittingham’s company. She believes she was put in that position because of their longtime friendship.

“I think that he knew that I would trust him,” Ronan said. “That I wouldn’t question it because I wouldn’t know what I was supposed to question. I didn’t know what was not normal, or what flags to look for. And I think that he knew that. I think that he knew that I would be the perfect person.”

She and Henderson said between the fall of 2022 and April 2023, Brittingham took his family on a cruise and bought a truck and camper.

The UI Office connected the fraudulent account to Brittingham’s LLC in late March after seeing the 2019 arrest warrant listed his old address and reported it to top DOL leadership.

Ronan said she was let go on from her job as a contractor with DOL on April 3 of last year.

“I was working from home that day,” she said. “I couldn’t get into my computer. So I was messaging [Brittingham] and I received a phone call. I said, ‘Hey, I can’t get in.’ So then he said, ‘Alright, I’ll send a message.’ And then I got the phone call that my contract was terminated with the state.”

Brittingham took his life later that day. Henderson said she was told Brittingham was placed under investigation on April 3.

Ronan said he was working from Dover that day. She said Holmes also interviewed her as part of the investigation and believes she was considered a target at one point.

“I felt that I was being set up and I was gonna go to jail,” Ronan said. “And it was really scary because you never know at what point, if their decision changed, they could have arrested me. So just having to deal with that not knowing and then knowing that I didn’t do anything wrong. And I was just waiting for the hammer to drop.”

DOL said the money Brittingham stole has not been returned to the fund. Ronan said the state needs to be held accountable.

“The legal processes to recover fraudulently obtained funds takes time, but the DOL continues to work with our legal team to recoup funds from the fraudulent transaction,” spokeswoman Natasha Percival-Rawlins said.

It’s unclear whether there have been any steps taken to prevent a similar type of trust fund embezzlement from happening again.

Auditor Lydia York’s special report called out an ongoing lack of “robust internal controls,” over the fund. She also cited mounting problems over several years that failed to be addressed due to factors including a lack of oversight and outdated systems. York took the heads of DOL and the Division of Accounting to task in her report.

“Management contributed to a critical accounting situation in the months and years preceding the current fiscal year,” the report said.

The AOA Office, UI Office and Department of Finance said efforts are ongoing to modernize the office’s antiquated system. State law changed in June 2023 to align with federal IRS policy that shortens the time between background checks from 10 years to five years. That took effect in June 2023.

Henderson said she hopes state leaders give more oversight over the trust fund and address other issues within the office.

“We would love for there to be transparency,” she said. “For us to just put it out in the open like, ‘Hey, we’re drowning and let’s come up with a plan here.’”