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.

See also: 2020 United States Senate 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

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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Withdrawn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
  1. Rakich, Nathaniel (December 2, 2020). "There Wasn't That Much Split-Ticket Voting In 2020". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
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  4. "COONS, CHRISTOPHER A. – Candidate overview". FEC.gov.
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  6. "Jessica Scarane | Democrat for U.S. Senate". Jessica Scarane | Democrat for U.S. Senate.
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  8. "Fmr. House Candidate Scott Walker suspends longshot Democratic presidential campaign, says he's writing book". Delaware 105.9 FM. June 13, 2019. Archived from the original on August 7, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
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  12. "Data for Progress" (PDF).
  13. "Team Kerri on Facebook". www.facebook.com.
  14. Schmidt, Sophia (December 7, 2018). "Kerri Harris reflects on her U.S. Senate run and its impact". delawarepublic.org.
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  17. Delaware, HOY en (August 18, 2020). "Retired State Sen. Margaret Rose Henry endorses US Sen. Chris Coons".
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  30. "Giffords Endorses Slate of Senators Running to Bring a Gun Safety Majority to the US Senate". Giffords. May 8, 2020.
  31. Society, Humane. "2020 Endorsements". Humane Society Legislative Fund.
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  37. "NARAL Pro-Choice America Endorses Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) and Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE)". NARAL Pro-Choice America. September 3, 2020.
  38. "Six Environmental Champions Win NRDC Action Fund Endorsements". nrdcactionfund.org. May 18, 2020.
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  45. "Our 2020 Endorsements - Working Families". workingfamilies.org/.
  46. "2020 State Primary Election Report". Delaware.gov. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
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  48. "Republican nominee for US Senate in Delaware has repeatedly promoted QAnon conspiracy theory, once called self 'flat earther'". Chicago Tribune.
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  53. Gamard, Sarah. "Delaware Republican Party makes endorsements amid contention between members, candidates". The News Journal.
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  69. "Info". www.dsea.org. Retrieved November 12, 2020.(subscription required)
  70. "U.S. Senate - Education Votes". educationvotes.nea.org.
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Official campaign websites
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