Democrats sweep statewide elected seats; Republicans search for answers

Why should Delaware care?
Democrats’ victories across the country, including in Delaware, on Tuesday indicate that laws and policies passed in the next two years will veer to the left. And how Republicans respond to the shift could determine whether the are able to regain their losses at the next election.

Delaware Democrats on Tuesday swept all statewide elected offices, extending a streak they have maintained every election cycle since 2016. 

The party’s statewide candidates did so in a largely uniform fashion, with each Democrat winning between 60% and 65% of the vote — an indication that voters cast ballots largely along party lines. 

U.S. Sen. Chris Coons won his seat for a fourth time, defeating Republican Mike Katz. U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride won her second term by beating Republican Joe Arminio. 

Attorney General Kathy Jennings and Auditor Lydia York also held their seats, while political newcomer Ted Lauzen defeated Mike Ramone, a former Republican state representative, to become Delaware’s next treasurer.

The victories were part of a national wave election that brought Democrats into power in statehouses and governor’s mansions across the United States, as well as in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.

The reaction to the results was jubilance from the state’s Democratic establishment, many of whom gathered Tuesday evening at the Hyatt Place hotel along the Wilmington Riverfront to celebrate the end of the campaign. 

“I almost cannot believe how good the news is – here in Delaware and around our country,” Coons said at the election night watch party.

In the remarks to his fellow Democrats, Coons also described how party leaders coordinated various campaigns across the state to help their candidates. He recounted how the night before the election he and Lauzen had knocked on voters’ doors in Kent County with statehouse candidate Annie Norman.

Norman on Tuesday narrowly defeated incumbent Rep. Lyndon Yearick (R-Dover) for his seat in the state legislature. 

“We have an amazing statewide ticket,” Coons said.

About 15 miles from where Democrats were celebrating, Republicans gathered at an office within a commercial strip in Glasgow to attend an election night party for Katz.

As results trickled in through the evening, the mood in the room shifted from anticipation to frustration, with one Republican stating that the losses stung worse than those from past years. 

The glum mood was briefly interrupted with light applause from the roughly 50 people in attendance when televisions tuned to cable news reported that Florida had elected a GOP governor. But it was a fleeting moment as subsequent races in Delaware and across the country were called for Democrats.     

In all, it left the members of the state GOP seeking answers. At the Glasgow event, many lamented low voter turnout among Republicans as a cause for the latest results. Others pointed blame at state party leaders.  

In a speech to the crowd, Katz called low turnout “a warning that our civic life needs strengthening.” 

Fellow Republican Janyce Colmery, who had run a campaign for the Delaware House of Representatives, stated it more bluntly. 

Speaking to fellow conservatives, she said, “if you don’t vote. Shut up! You have no reason to complain.” 

In separate remarks, Hunter Dworsky, executive director of the Katz campaign, pointed at leaders with the state GOP committee for the failures at the polls. He claimed the Katz campaign had not heard from Party Chair Gene Truono since April. He also said the state GOP did not have a “get out the vote plan until two weeks ago.” 

“These candidates deserved better,” Dworsky said.

When reached for comment, Truono said state party officials had been in regular communication with the Katz campaign, and had provided it — as well as all GOP campaigns — with valuable voter data.  

“That doesn’t go without a cost and yet we’re not just supporting one candidate,” Truono said, “we’re supporting all of the candidates.” 

Truono further said that a campaign at the level of running for U.S. Senate must take responsibility for its own success. He noted that at the district level, the GOP had to defend five legislative seats left open by Republican retirements.

“Delaware is a tough state as you know for Republicans,” Truono said.

Republicans account for less than a quarter of registered voters in Delaware.

A contentious campaign

Among the Delaware Democrats who sought statewide office, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride won by the biggest margin, defeating Arminio with over 64 percent of the vote. 

McBride’s results followed a contentious campaign that hinted at growing fractures within the Republican Party, including between its two most prominent candidates – Katz and Arminio. 

During a candidate forum in September, Arminio used the terms “his” and “he” to refer to McBride, who in 2024 became the first transgender woman ever elected to Congress. 

In response, Katz, who was on stage at the time, apologized for Arminio’s conduct, saying he didn’t condone it.

The incident exposed a rift within the GOP that had already sparked GOP write-in candidacies to challenge Katz and Arminio in the general election.

When speaking to reporters at the Democratic watch party Tuesday, McBride focused her comments on what she called the progress that is needed on the federal level, rather than on the past controversies with Republicans.

She listed a string of populist policies that many within her party have endorsed recently, including a reversal of cuts made to federal health care programs, and an end to “these new forever wars that this president has started” — a reference to President Donald Trump.  

She also called for federal regulations on the AI industry.

Finally, McBride linked such kitchen-table issues to the victories her party secured Tuesday.

“I’m really proud that we’ve not only won re-election with a supermajority of Delawareans, but for the first time since 2012, Delaware Democrats have won in all three counties,” she said.