Bryan Townsend | |
Office: | Majority Leader of the Delaware Senate |
Term Start: | November 4, 2020 |
Predecessor: | Nicole Poore |
State Senate1: | Delaware |
District1: | 11th |
Term Start1: | January 8, 2013 |
Predecessor1: | Anthony DeLuca |
Birth Date: | 19 May 1981 |
Birth Place: | Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. |
Party: | Democratic |
Education: | University of Delaware (BA, BS) University of Cambridge (MPhil) Yale University (JD) |
Bryan Jeffrey Schurgard Townsend (born May 19, 1981) is an American politician who represents District 11 in the Delaware Senate.[1] Townsend was elected Senate Majority Leader in 2020. He graduated from the University of Delaware in 2003.
As a political newcomer, Townsend defeated Anthony J. DeLuca—who was then President pro tempore of the Delaware Senate—in the 2012 Democratic primary by 57 percent to 42 percent.[2] [3] Townsend went on to defeat Republican Evan Queitsch in the general election, winning 78 percent of the vote.[4] [5]
Townsend was reelected in 2014. He defeated primary challenger David L. Tackett with 78 percent of the vote,[6] and was unopposed in the general election.[7]
In September 2015, in the wake of Representative John Carney's announcement that he would run for governor of the state, Townsend announced his candidacy for Delaware's at-large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.[8] On September 13, 2016, his candidacy ended when he placed second in a six-way Democratic primary, behind former state Secretary of Labor Lisa Blunt Rochester (25% to 44%).[9] [10]
Townsend supports gun control and has supported a bill in 2018 to ban assault weapons.[11]