State Rep. Mike Zabel (D-Delaware) has submitted his resignation to Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton effective March 16.

“After conversations with leadership, Rep. Zabel has chosen to do what is best for his family, the people he represents, and the state House of Representatives,” the House Democratic Caucus said in a statement.

“The House Democratic Caucus reaffirms its commitment to a safe work environment that encourages people to come forward to have their concerns addressed responsibly and thoroughly — an environment that did not exist for 12 years under Republican leadership and a broken system every Republican voted to preserve just a week ago.

“As part of our caucus’s ongoing commitment to protection and transparency, a website will soon be available to the public to learn more about the newly empowered Ethics Committee’s process for collecting and investigating reports of discrimination and harassment. Additionally, the House Democratic Caucus will keep former Rep. Zabel’s district offices open to ensure members of his community continue to have access to state services.”

The announcement follows a Wednesday morning press conference in which Rep. Abby Major (R-Armstrong/ Westmoreland) came forward, accusing Zabel of sexual harassment in November 2022.

Major revealed that she was the source of the Broad + Liberty story that identified Zabel as the lawmaker that sexually harassed Perez, a lobbyist with SEIU 32BJ.

“I was willing to give him a pass for this,” Major said about her encounter with Zabel.

After initially remaining anonymous, Major said she felt the need to go public after Perez and another accuser – Zabel’s former campaign manager Colleen Kennedy – came forward.

She described to Broad + Liberty a November event attended by other legislators at a hotel.

“He [Zabel] came up to me and he couldn’t stop telling me how great I look. But then he was — he kept putting his arm around me and saying like, ‘Hey, we should get outta here. Like, do you wanna go upstairs with me?’”

The alleged pass was broken up by a nearby male friend who intervened, but the episode was not over.

“I go out the door of the [location] and I’m walking down the hallway there and I noticed that he’s behind me, like he’s following me. So I went over into the bathroom and then I walked back to the [location] and I had to ask — I asked another Republican member that was a man if he would walk me to my car,” which that man agreed to do.

“And even then, like I turned around when we were walking out to my car and [Zabel] was following us out to the car, so it was just creepy.”

“Then I found out after I left that night that there was another sitting member that was at the bar and he followed her to her hotel room,” she added.

Zabel had originally declined to resign his position but announced he would resign from his judiciary committee assignment and seek treatment of an unspecified nature.

State Rep. Kristin Marcell (R-Bucks), along with 15 other GOP female members of the House, hand-delivered a letter to McClinton on Monday calling for Zabel’s resignation.

“As I have said over the past few weeks, Rep. Zabel needed to resign and House Democratic Leadership needed to call for his ouster,” Marcell told PoliticsPA. “I am pleased that Rep. Zabel took the appropriate action even if the Democrat Leaders did not.”

The March 16 effective date of the resignation provides McClinton with the minimum 60 days needed to call for a special election for May 16.

The 163rd District includes parts of Darby and Upper Darby townships, as well as the boroughs of Aldan, Clifton Heights and Collingdale and houses nearly 64,000 residents.

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