2018 Delaware elections

A general election was held in the U.S. state of Delaware on November 6, 2018. Half of Delaware's executive officers were up for election as well as a United States Senate seat and Delaware's at-large seat in the United States House of Representatives. Primary elections were held on September 6, 2018.[1]

In the general election, Democrats took over all statewide offices and defeated two of the highest ranking Republicans in the Delaware General Assembly.[2][3][4] Those races were all won by Democratic women, putting a record number of women in statewide elected offices in Delaware.[5] The Democratic Party became the first party to hold all nine statewide offices in Delaware since the Republican Party in 1970.[6]

Federal

State

Attorney General

Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Matthew Denn did not run for reelection to a second term in office.[7] The Republican Party originally nominated former chief Sussex County prosecutor Peggy Marshall Thomas, however Thomas later withdrew and the party nominated former New Castle County attorney Bernard Pepukayi.[8][9][10]

Former New Castle County chief administrative officer Kathy Jennings won the Democratic nomination, defeating three opponents, and went on to defeat Pepukayi in the general election.

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kathy Jennings	46,038	56.6
	Democratic	LaKresha Roberts	17,584	21.6
	Democratic	Chris Johnson	12,194	15.0
	Democratic	Tim Mullaney	5,513	6.8
Margin of victory			28,454	35.0%
Turnout			81,329	25.4%[11]
Total votes			81,329	100.0

Delaware Attorney General election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kathy Jennings	218,332	61.31%
	Republican	Bernard Pepukayi	137,725	38.69%
Total votes			356,057	100%
	Democratic hold

Treasurer

Republican nominee and incumbent State Treasurer Ken Simpler, Democratic nominee Colleen Davis, and Green nominee David Chandler (who was also the nominee in 2014), were all unopposed in their respective primaries. Davis won the general election, denying Simpler a second term in office.[13]

Delaware State Treasurer election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Colleen Davis	187,225	52.36%
	Republican	Ken Simpler (incumbent)	163,999	45.87%
	Green	David Chandler	6,300	1.77%
Total votes			357,524	100%
	Democratic gain from Republican

Auditor of Accounts

Incumbent Republican State Auditor Tom Wagner did not run for reelection to an eighth term. Republican nominee James Spadola was unopposed in his respective primary and won the nomination.

Kathy McGuiness won the Democratic nomination, defeating two opponents, and went on to win the general election against Spadola.

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kathy McGuiness	33,240	41.9
	Democratic	Kathleen Davies	27,748	34.9
	Democratic	Dennis E. Williams	18,431	23.2
Total votes			79,419	100

Delaware State Auditor election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kathy McGuiness	205,611	57.90%
	Republican	James Spadola	149,479	42.10%
Total votes			355,090	100%
	Democratic gain from Republican

Senate

The state of Delaware will have various State Senate elections in the general election.

District 2

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Darius J. Brown	2,115	38.4
	Democratic	Bobbie Cummings	1,387	25.2
	Democratic	Sam Guy	1,280	23.2
	Democratic	Herman Holloway Jr.	727	13.2
Total votes			5,509	100

Delaware State Senate District 2 election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Darius J. Brown	11,773	100%
Total votes			11,773	100%
	Democratic hold

District 3

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Elizabeth "Tizzy" Lockman	2,143	56.4
	Democratic	Jordan Hines	1,660	43.6
Total votes			3,803	100

Delaware State Senate District 3 election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Elizabeth "Tizzy" Lockman	9,099	100%
Total votes			9,099	100%
	Democratic hold

District 4

Delaware State Senate District 4 election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Laura Sturgeon	11,251	53.13%
	Republican	Gregory Lavelle (incumbent)	9,924	46.87%
Total votes			21,175	100%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 6

Delaware State Senate District 6 election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ernesto Lopez (incumbent)	14,781	52.67%
	Democratic	David Baker	13,283	47.33%
Total votes			28,064	100%
	Republican hold

District 10

Delaware State Senate District 10 election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Stephanie Hansen (incumbent)	11,665	62.06%
	Republican	Christine Metzing	7,129	37.94%
Total votes			18,794	100%
	Democratic hold

District 11

Delaware State Senate District 11 election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bryan Townsend (incumbent)	10,420	75.74%
	Republican	Dan Kapitanic	3,336	24.26%
Total votes			13,756	100%
	Democratic hold

District 16

Delaware State Senate District 16 election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Colin Bonini (incumbent)	8,617	55.09%
	Democratic	Louisa Phillips	7,027	44.91%
Total votes			15,644	100%
	Republican hold

District 17

Republican primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Justin King	1,240	67.5
	Republican	Donyale Hall	596	32.5
Total votes			1,836	100

Delaware State Senate District 17 election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	W. Charles Paradee	9,343	64.27%
	Republican	Justin King	5,194	35.73%
Total votes			14,537	100%
	Democratic hold

District 18

Delaware State Senate District 18 election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David Wilson	10,816	65.17%
	Democratic	James Purcell	5,783	34.83%
Total votes			16,599	100%
	Republican hold

District 21

Delaware State Senate District 21 election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bryant Richardson (incumbent)	8,816	65.03%
	Democratic	Bob Wheatley	4,741	34.97%
Total votes			13,557	100%
	Republican hold

House of Representatives

Certain notable State House elections are below.

District 6

Delaware State House District 6 election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Debra Heffernan (incumbent)	7,073	65.32%
	Republican	Jeffrey Olmstead	3,754	34.68%
Total votes			10,827	100%
	Democratic hold

District 7 Incumbent State Representative Bryon Short did not run for reelection. Perennial candidate Rose Izzo previously ran her campaign for the Republican Party's nomination, but later switched to run for the Democratic nomination. Eric Braunstein won the Republican primary unopposed.

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ray Seigfried	762	28.7
	Democratic	Larry Lambert	676	25.5
	Democratic	Joe Daigle	661	24.9
	Democratic	Catherine Imburgia	300	11.3
	Democratic	Rose Izzo	257	9.7
Total votes			2,656	100

Delaware State House District 7 election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ray Seigfried	5,943	62.92%
	Republican	Eric Braunstein	3,348	35.44%
	Libertarian	Scott Gesty	154	1.64%
Total votes			9,445	100%
	Democratic hold

District 10

Delaware State House District 10 election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sean Matthews (incumbent)	6,448	68.69%
	Republican	Erin Wienner	2,938	31.31%
Total votes			9,386	100%
	Democratic hold

District 12

Democratic primary, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Krista Griffith	1,726	63.7
	Democratic	Rachel Blumenfeld	982	36.3
Total votes			2,708	100

Delaware State House District 12 election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Krista Griffith	6,691	53.14%
	Republican	Deborah Hudson (incumbent)	5,898	46.86%
Total votes			12,589	100%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 36 After Kerri Evelyn Harris's loss in the U.S. Senate election, many progressive Delaware Democrats shifted focus to support Don Allan in District 36. He was endorsed by Our Revolution, Delaware United, Kerri Evelyn Harris, and U.S. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester.

Delaware State House District 36 election, 2018[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bryan Shupe	5,244	64.81%
	Democratic	Don Allan	2,848	35.19%
Total votes			8,092	100%
	Republican hold

References

1. "State of Delaware Primary Election Official Results". Dover, Delaware: Delaware Commissioner of Elections. September 6, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
2. Barrish, Cris (November 6, 2018). "Democrats sweep Delaware statewide offices". WHYY.
3. Schmidt, Sophia (November 7, 2018). "State House and Senate Minority Whips ousted by Democratic challengers". Delaware Public Media.
4. "State of Delaware General Election Official Results". Dover, Delaware: Delaware Commissioner of Elections. November 6, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
5. Goss, Scott (November 7, 2018). "Women led the charge in Delaware's election night victories". The News Journal.
6. "Del. Democrats Sworn in to Statewide Offices". WBOC 16. January 2, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
7. "Attorney General Matt Denn will not seek re-election".
8. Diehl, Josh. "Peggy Marshall Thomas enters Attorney General race".
9. "Delaware's lone Republican in the attorney general race drops out".
10. https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/08/20/bernard-pepukayi-election-delaware-attorney-general-republican/1040132002/
11. "State of Delaware - Department of Elections · Office of the State Election Commissioner". elections.delaware.gov. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
12. "State of Delaware General Election (Official Results)". State of Delaware Election Commissioner. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
13. "Simpler to run for re-election as state treasurer".