A gubernatorial candidate has resigned as CEO of a northern Delaware craft brewery.
“I have chosen to step down as CEO of Bellefonte Brewing Company and shut the doors of my other businesses. Bellefonte will go on without me just fine, and I encourage you to patronize their non-political taprooms,” Neil Shea wrote in a Facebook post.
Shea has filed for the Republican nomination for governor. He is expected to face off against State Senator and Seaford newspaper publisher Bryant Richardson.
Shea earlier this month made remarks at the “Storm the Beach” protest in Rehoboth. He has been critical of Gov. John Carney’s emergency order that closed restaurants and taprooms, limiting sales to takeouts.
“It is with great sadness that following my beliefs has damaged my businesses. I have partners, employees, investors all counting on the success of our enterprise for their livelihoods. It seems the ‘tolerant’ folks like to smear and defame people based on their opinions and simply categorizing yourself as a conservative in a very strange world,” Shea wrote.
Shea continued, “My partners and I have sacrificed our pay and paid employees out of our own pocket to keep this dream alive. I am putting my remaining funds into this campaign to defend the rights of people that so eagerly want me to fail.”
Bellefonte, which has tasting rooms in the Prices Corner and north Wilmngton areas earlier posted on Facebook that it had no connection with the use of its logo in an unspecified advertisement.
Shea vowed to fight on. “The gloves are coming off now. The state has not claimed another COVID loss with me. Sometimes you have to sacrifice the queen to win the game. I’m here for YOU Delaware. Let’s get back to work,” Shea wrote.
Shea, according to his campaign website, is a former Marine who served in Afghanistan. He also owned a cleaning business and was selected as a member of the 40 Under 40 list from the Delaware Business Times.
