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Governor of Delaware
Democratic primary Republican primary General election
Election details
Filing deadline: July 14, 2020
Primary: September 15, 2020 General: November 3, 2020 Pre-election incumbent(s): Gov.John Carney Jr. (D)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting in Delaware
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic Inside Elections: Solid Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
Federal and state primary competitiveness State executive elections in 2020 Impact of term limits in 2020 State government trifectas State government triplexes Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020
Delaware executive elections
Governor Lieutenant Governor Insurance Commissioner

Delaware held an election forgovernor onNovember 3, 2020. A primary was scheduled for September 15, 2020. The filing deadline was July 14, 2020.

IncumbentJohn C. Carney Jr. won election in the general election for Governor of Delaware.

Delaware's 2020 gubernatorial and state legislative elections affected partisan control ofredistricting following the 2020 census. In Delaware, the state legislature is responsible for drafting both congressional and state legislative district plans. District plans are subject to gubernatorial veto.

Election procedure changes in 2020

See also:Changes to election dates, procedures, and administration in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of thecoronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.

Delaware modified its absentee/mail-in voting procedures for the November 3, 2020, general election as follows:

• Absentee/mail-in voting: Vote-by-mail applications were sent to all registered voters in the general election.

For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak,click here.

Candidates and results

General election

General election for Governor of Delaware

IncumbentJohn C. Carney Jr. defeatedJulianne Murray,Kathy DeMatteis, andJohn Machurek in the general election for Governor of Delaware on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		John C. Carney Jr. (D)	59.5	292,903
		Julianne Murray (R)	38.6	190,312
		Kathy DeMatteis (Independent Party)	1.2	6,150
		John Machurek (L)	0.7	3,270

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	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 492,635
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Governor of Delaware

IncumbentJohn C. Carney Jr. defeatedDavid Lamar Williams Jr. in the Democratic primary for Governor of Delaware on September 15, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		John C. Carney Jr.	84.8	101,142
		David Lamar Williams Jr.	15.2	18,169

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	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 119,311
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Governor of Delaware

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for Governor of Delaware on September 15, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Julianne Murray	41.2	22,819
		Colin Bonini	34.6	19,161
		Bryant Richardson	7.7	4,262
		Scott Walker	7.2	3,998
	Submit photo	David Bosco	6.6	3,660
		David Graham	2.8	1,547

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	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 55,447
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Neil Shea (R)

Ballot access requirements

The table below details filing requirements for gubernatorial candidates in Delaware in the 2020 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Delaware, clickhere.

Past elections

Delaware state government organizational chart

See also:Gubernatorial election cycles by state andElection of governors

PerArticle III, Section 2 of thestate constitution,Delaware elects governors in presidential election years—that is, leap years. In Delaware, 2016, 2020, 2024, and 2028 are all gubernatorial election years. The winner is inaugurated on the third Tuesday in the January following an election.

In the unlikely event that two candidates receive the exact same vote tally, a joint session of the legislature casts ballots to choose one-third of the members of each chamber to make up a special joint committee, which will in turn cast ballots for the governor. In the even more unlikely event that the legislature is similarly tied, the president of theDelaware State Senate shall have the deciding vote (§ 4).

To view the full electoral history for Governor of Delaware, click [show] to expand the full section.

2016 See also:Delaware gubernatorial election, 2016 General election John Carney defeatedColin Bonini,Andrew Groff,Sean Goward, andBenjamin Hollinger in the Delaware governor election. Delaware Governor, 2016 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic John Carney 58.34% 248,404      Republican Colin Bonini 39.19% 166,852      Green Andrew Groff 1.40% 5,951      Libertarian Sean Goward 1.07% 4,577      Write-in Benjamin Hollinger 0.00% 0 Total Votes 425,784 Source:Delaware Secretary of State Primary election Colin Bonini defeatedLacey Lafferty in the Delaware Republican primary for governor. Delaware Republican primary for governor, 2016 Candidate Vote % Votes Colin Bonini 69.88% 21,150 Lacey Lafferty 30.12% 9,115 Total Votes 30,265 Source:Delaware Department of Elections 2012 See also:Delaware gubernatorial election, 2012 IncumbentJack Markell (D) defeated challengersJeff Cragg (R),Jesse McVay (L), andMark Joseph Perri (G) in theNovember 6, 2012, general election. Governor of Delaware General Election, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Jack MarkellIncumbent 69.3% 275,993      Republican Jeff Cragg 28.6% 113,793      Libertarian Jesse McVay 0.9% 3,668      Green Mark Joseph Perri 1.1% 4,575 Total Votes 398,029 Election results viaDelaware Board of Elections 2008 On November 4, 2008, then-State TreasurerJack Markell (D) facedRepublican challenger William Swain Lee andminor-party challenger Jeffrey Brown. Markell easily defeated his opponents, winning over two-thirds of the vote.[1] Delaware Governor, 2008 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Jack Markell 67.5% 266,861      Republican William Swain Lee 32% 126,662      Blue Enigma Jeffrey Brown 0.4% 1,681 Total Votes 395,204 Election results viaDelaware Secretary of State 2004 On November 2, 2004, incumbentRuth Ann Minner (D) facedRepublican challenger William Swain Lee. Minner narrowly won re-election.[2] Delaware Governor, 2004 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Ruth Ann Minner 50.9% 185,687      Republican William Swain Lee 45.8% 167,115      Independent Frank Infante 3.3% 12,206 Total Votes 365,008 Election results viaDelaware Secretary of State 2000 FormerLieutenant Governor of DelawareRuth Ann Minner defeated John M. Burris in the general election on November 7, 2000, becoming the first female governor elected in the state of Delaware and receiving more popular votes in the state of Delaware than that year's Democratic Party candidate forpresident of the United States, Al Gore, did.[3][4] Delaware Governor, 2000 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Ruth Ann Minner 59.2% 191,695      Republican John M. Burris 39.7% 128,603      Independent Floyd E. McDowell Sr. 1% 3,271 Total Votes 323,569 Election results viaDelaware Secretary of State

About the office

Governor

Main article:Governor of Delaware

TheDelaware governor is an elected constitutional officer, the head of the executive branch, and the highest office inthe state. The governor is popularly elected every four years by a plurality and is limited to two terms. The 74th and current governor isJohn Carney Jr., aDemocrat elected in 2016.

Prior to the November 2016 general elections, Delaware was one of seven Democraticstate government trifectas. As a result of the elections, Delaware was one of six Democratic state government trifectas in the 2017 state legislative sessions.

See also:Delaware State Legislature,Delaware House of Representatives,Delaware State Senate

State profile

Presidential voting pattern

See also:Presidential voting trends in Delaware

Delawarevoted for the Democratic candidate in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted forDonald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting forBarack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won thesePivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, one is located in Delaware, accounting for 0.5 percent of the total pivot counties.^[5] As of May 2017, eight state House districts and five state Senate districtsintersected with a Pivot County in Delaware. The state has one at-large congressional district.

Pivot Counties (2020)

In2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won asRetained Pivot Counties and those won byJoe Biden (D) asBoomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Delaware had one Boomerang Pivot County, 4.00% of all Boomerang Pivot Counties.

More Delaware coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Delaware
• United States congressional delegations from Delaware
• Public policy in Delaware
• Endorsers in Delaware
• Delaware fact checks
• More...

Pivot Counties

See also:Pivot Counties by state

One of three Delaware counties—33.33 percent—is aPivot County. Pivot Counties are counties that voted forBarack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and forDonald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

In the 2016 presidential election,Hillary Clinton (D) won Delaware with 53.4 percent of the vote.Donald Trump (R) received 41.9 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, Delaware voted Republican 53.33 percent of the time and Democratic 46.67 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, Delaware voted Democratic all five times.

Presidential results by legislative district

The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state House districts in Delaware. Click[show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. The "Party Control" column notes which party held that seat heading into the 2018 general election. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled byDaily Kos.^[6][7]

Voter guides

2020 State Cannabis Voter Guides

See also

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of the Governor of Delaware

Footnotes

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