2020 United States Senate election in Delaware

The 2020 United States Senate election in Delaware was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Delaware, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections.

2020 United States Senate election in Delaware

November 3, 2020
 
Nominee Chris Coons Lauren Witzke
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 291,804 186,054
Percentage 59.44% 37.90%

Coons:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Witzke:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
     No data

U.S. senator before election

Chris Coons
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

Chris Coons
Democratic

Incumbent Democratic Senator Chris Coons ran for reelection to a second full term and won against Republican challenger Lauren Witzke with 59.4% of the vote. He outperformed Democratic presidential nominee and former Delaware Senator Joe Biden (whose seat Coons was elected to in a 2010 special election) by 0.7 percentage points, compared to the concurrent presidential election.[1]

Democratic primary

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

  • Jessica Scarane, technology executive[5][6]

Withdrawn

Declined

Endorsements

Chris Coons
U.S. Vice Presidents
State executives
State legislators
Individuals
Organizations
Jessica Scarane
State legislators
Organizations
Political Parties

Polling

Hypothetical head-to-head polling
with Lisa Blunt Rochester and Chris Coons
Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size[lower-alpha 1]
Margin
of error
Lisa
Blunt Rochester
Chris
Coons
Undecided
Data for Progress November 15–25, 2019 528 (LV) ± 6.1% 31% 35% 34%
with Chris Coons and more liberal female Democrat
Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size[lower-alpha 1]
Margin
of error
Chris
Coons
More liberal
female Democrat
Undecided
Data for Progress November 15–25, 2019 528 (LV) ± 6.1% 24%[lower-alpha 2] 45% 31%
32%[lower-alpha 3] 36% 32%
32%[lower-alpha 4] 36% 33%

Results

Results by county:
  Coons—70–80%
  Coons—60–70%
Democratic primary results[46]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Chris Coons (incumbent) 87,332 72.85%
Democratic Jessica Scarane 32,547 27.15%
Total votes 119,879 100.00%

Republican primary

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Declined

Endorsements

James DeMartino
Organizations
  • Delaware Colonial Region Republicans[52]
Political Parties
Lauren Witzke
U.S. Representatives
Individuals

Results

Results by county:
  Witzke—60–70%
  Witzke—50–60%
Republican primary results[46]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Lauren Witzke 30,702 56.89%
Republican James DeMartino 23,266 43.11%
Total votes 53,968 100.00%

Other candidates

Nominee

  • Nadine Frost, Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018[57]

Nominee

  • Mark Turley, small business owner[58]

General election

Prior to the election, Christopher Coons' re-election was considered to be a near certainty regardless of the Republican challenger. The choice of Lauren Witzke, a controversial extremist and believer of QANON, as the nominee only cemented this prediction. Networks declared Coons the winner as soon as voting ended based on Exit Polling alone. Coons also outperformed Biden (who also once held this Senate seat) in terms of percentage but underperformed in terms of raw vote, likely due to the lack of third-party Senate candidates.

Predictions

Source Ranking As of
The Cook Political Report[59] Safe D October 29, 2020
Inside Elections[60] Safe D October 28, 2020
Sabato's Crystal Ball[61] Safe D November 2, 2020
Daily Kos[62] Safe D October 30, 2020
Politico[63] Safe D November 2, 2020
RCP[64] Safe D October 23, 2020
DDHQ[65] Safe D November 3, 2020
538[66] Safe D November 2, 2020
Economist[67] Safe D November 2, 2020

Endorsements

Chris Coons (D)
U.S. Vice Presidents
State Executives
State legislators
Individuals
Labor Unions
Organizations
Lauren Witzke (R)
Members of U.S. Congress
  • Paul Gosar, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona (2011-present)[54]
Individuals
  • Nick Fuentes, far-right political commentator, podcaster and white nationalist[71]

Polling

Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size[lower-alpha 1]
Margin
of error
Chris
Coons (D)
Lauren
Witzke (R)
Other/
Undecided
University of Delaware September 21–27, 2020 847 (LV) 57% 27% 17%[lower-alpha 5]

Results

United States Senate election in Delaware, 2020[72]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Chris Coons (incumbent) 291,804 59.44% +3.61%
Republican Lauren Witzke 186,054 37.90% -4.33%
Independent Mark Turley 7,833 1.59% N/A
Libertarian Nadine Frost 5,244 1.07% N/A
Total votes 490,935 100.0%
Democratic hold
By county
County Chris Coons
Democratic
Lauren Witzke
Republican
Mark Turley
IPoD
Nadine Frost
Libertarian
Margin Total
votes
# % # % # % # % # %
Kent 43,893 51.65 38,571 45.39 1,553 1.83 958 1.13 5,322 6.26 84,975
New Castle 191,774 68.62 80,081 28.65 4,277 1.53 3,330 1.19 111,693 39.97 279,462
Sussex 56,137 44.38 67,402 53.28 2,003 1.58 956 0.76 -11,265 -8.90 126,498
Totals 291,804 59.44 186,054 37.90 7,833 1.60 5,244 1.07 105,750 21.54 490,935
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic[73]

Notes

  1. Key:
    A – all adults
    RV – registered voters
    LV – likely voters
    V – unclear
  2. After being presented with a liberal set of arguments regarding Chris Coons
  3. After being presented with a conservative set of arguments regarding Chris Coons
  4. Voting intention without being presented with any arguments regarding Chris Coons
  5. "None/other/undecided" with 11%; Turley (DI) with 4%; Frost (L) with 2%

References

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Official campaign websites
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