United States House election in Delaware, 2020 (September 15 Democratic primary)

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search


2022
2018
Delaware's At-Large Congressional District
Ballotpedia Election Coverage Badge.png
Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: July 14, 2020
Primary: September 15, 2020
General: November 3, 2020

Pre-election incumbent:
Lisa Blunt Rochester (Democrat)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Voting in Delaware
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic
Inside Elections: Solid Democratic
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020
See also
Delaware's At-Large Congressional District
U.S. SenateAt-large
Delaware elections, 2020
U.S. Congress elections, 2020
U.S. Senate elections, 2020
U.S. House elections, 2020

The 2020 U.S. House of Representatives elections in Delaware took place on November 3, 2020. Voters elected one candidate to serve in the U.S. House from the state's one at-large congressional district. This page focuses on the Democratic primary that took place in Delaware on September 15, 2020.

Click here for more information about the Republican primary.

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
July 14, 2020
September 15, 2020
November 3, 2020


Heading into the election the incumbent was Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester, who was first elected in 2016.

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Delaware utilizes a closed primary process, in which the selection of a party's candidates in an election is limited to registered party members.[1][2][3]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

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 the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.

Delaware modified its primary election processes as follows:

  • Election postponements: The presidential preference primary was postponed from April 28, 2020, to July 7.
  • Voting procedures: Vote-by-mail applications sent to all registered voters in the primary election.

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


Candidates and election results

At-large district

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Lisa Blunt Rochester advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Delaware.

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

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

Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008
County Trump margin of victory in 2016 Obama margin of victory in 2012 Obama margin of victory in 2008
Kent County, Delaware 4.87% 4.94% 9.81%

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 by Daily Kos.[4][5]

In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won 28 out of 41 state House districts in Delaware with an average margin of victory of 35.2 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won 27 out of 41 state House districts in Delaware with an average margin of victory of 31.7 points. Clinton won three districts controlled by Republicans heading into the 2018 elections.
In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 13 out of 41 state House districts in Delaware with an average margin of victory of 12.8 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 14 out of 41 state House districts in Delaware with an average margin of victory of 22.3 points. Trump won one district controlled by a Democrat heading into the 2018 elections.

District analysis

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index
See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is D+6, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 6 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Delaware's At-Large Congressional District the 154th most Democratic nationally.[6]

FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 0.93. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 0.93 points toward that party.[7]

Campaign finance

The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Lisa Blunt Rochester Democratic Party $2,046,187 $1,327,604 $963,766 As of December 31, 2020

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2020. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.


General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

  • Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
  • Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
  • Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.[8]
  • Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.[9][10][11]

Race ratings: Delaware's At-large Congressional District election, 2020
Race trackerRace ratings
November 3, 2020October 27, 2020October 20, 2020October 13, 2020
The Cook Political ReportSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid Democratic
Inside Elections with Nathan L. GonzalesSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal BallSafe DemocraticSafe DemocraticSafe DemocraticSafe Democratic
Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season.

See also

Footnotes


Senators
Representatives
Democratic Party (3)