2010 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware

The 2010 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware was held on November 2, 2010 to determine who would represent the state of Delaware in the United States House of Representatives for the 112th United States Congress. Democratic nominee former Lieutenant Governor, John Carney defeated Republican nominee Glen Urquhart, giving Delaware an all Democratic congressional delegation for the first time since before the 1942 midterms.[1] This is the first open seat election since 1992 and only the second since 1976.

2010 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware

November 2, 2010
 
Nominee John Carney Glen Urquhart
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 173,543 125,442
Percentage 56.8% 41.0%

County results
Carney:      60–70%
Urquhart:      50–60%

U.S. Representative before election

Mike Castle
Republican

Elected U.S. Representative

John Carney
Democratic

Overview

Map of Delaware's at-large congressional district

The state of Delaware is completely contained in a single at-large district. The district has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+7.[2] Since 1993, the district had been represented by Republican Michael Castle.

Castle announced in 2009 he would run for the United States Senate seat[3] held by Ted Kaufman (D) who had been appointed to the seat when his predecessor, Joe Biden (D), resigned to become Vice President. Castle was defeated by Christine O'Donnell in the Delaware Republican Senate primary.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Carney announced his candidacy on April 15, 2009 and was unopposed in the primary after Scott Spencer, a transportation consultant, dropped out.[4][5]

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary results[6]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Glen Urquhart 27,343 48.64
Republican Michele Rollins 26,789 47.66
Republican Rose Izzo 2,082 3.70
Total votes 56,214 100.00

Campaign

According to a September 2010 poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind, "likely voters in Delaware split 45%-40% on whether they prefer[ed] to have the U.S. Congress controlled by the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, suggesting that the First State's open congressional seat might be hotly contested," yet in the same poll, Carney led Urquhart by 51%-36%.[7] Peter Woolley, the poll director, remarked that "candidates matter, not just parties" and that in Delaware candidates matter "more than in most states."[7]

Polling

Poll source Date(s) administered Glen
Urquhart (R)
John
Carney (D)
Monmouth University October 25–27, 2010 44% 51%
Fairleigh Dickinson October 20–26, 2010 36% 53%
Monmouth University October 8–11, 2010 44% 53%
Fairleigh Dickinson September 27 – October 3, 2010 36% 51%
University of Delaware September 16–30, 2010 31% 48%
Wilson Research Strategies September 27–28, 2010 41% 45%
Grove Insight September 15–18, 2010 32% 50%
Public Policy Polling September 11–12, 2010 37% 48%
Public Policy Polling August 7–8, 2010 30% 48%

General election

Results

Delaware's at-large congressional district election, 2010[8]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic John Carney 173,543 56.78
Republican Glen Urquhart 125,442 41.04
Independent Earl R. Lofland 3,704 1.21
Libertarian Brent A. Wangen 1,986 0.65
Blue Enigma Jeffrey Brown 961 0.31
Total votes 305,636 100.00
Democratic gain from Republican

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

References

  1. Elections 2010:Delaware
  2. "Cook Political Report, PVI for the 110th Congress" (PDF). Cook Political Report. June 20, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 26, 2008. Retrieved February 15, 2009.
  3. Josh Kraushaar (October 6, 2009). "Castle running for the Senate". Politico. Retrieved October 7, 2009.
  4. "Delaware Con Carney - Hotline On Call". Hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved July 28, 2009.
  5. "Courierpostonline - Transportation consultant plans congressional bid". Content.usatoday.net. March 30, 2009. Retrieved July 28, 2009.
  6. "State of Delaware - Department of Elections - State of Delaware".
  7. "Delaware Republicans Losing House Seat," FDU PublicMind, Oct. 5, 2010. Retrieved 2/24/11.
  8. "State of Delaware - Department of Elections - State of Delaware".
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