2025 Delaware legislative session

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2025 Delaware legislative session
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General information
Scheduled session start:    January 14, 2025

Scheduled session end:    June 30, 2025

Leadership
Senate President
Kyle Evans Gay (D)

House Speaker
Melissa Minor-Brown (D)
Majority Leader
Senate: Bryan Townsend (D)
House: Kerri Evelyn Harris (D)
Minority Leader
Senate: Gerald Hocker (R)
House: Timothy Dukes (R)

Elections
Next Election:    November 3, 2026

Last Election:    November 5, 2024

Previous legislative sessions
2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018
Other 2025 legislative sessions


In 2025, the Delaware General Assembly was scheduled to convene on January 14 and adjourn on June 30.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2024 elections. Democrats won a 15-6 majority in the Senate and a 27-14 majority in the House. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Democratic state government trifecta. At the start of the 2025 session, Delaware was one of 23 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

At the beginning of the 2025 legislative session:
  • Democrats held a majority in the Delaware state House and state Senate.
  • Delaware was one of 15 Democratic state government trifectas.
  • Delaware's governor was Democrat Matt Meyer.

    • Leadership in 2025

    See also: Leadership positions in state legislatures

    Delaware State Senate

    Delaware House of Representatives

    Partisan control in 2025

    See also: State government trifectas

    Delaware was one of 15 Democratic state government trifectas at the start of 2025 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

    Delaware was also one of 23 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.

    The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Delaware General Assembly in the 2025 legislative session.

    Delaware State Senate

    Party As of January 2025
         Democratic Party 15
         Republican Party 6
    Total 21

    Delaware House of Representatives

    Party As of January 2025
         Democratic Party 27
         Republican Party 14
    Total 41

    Regular session

    The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2025 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation has met these criteria yet in 2025. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

    Legislation trackers

    See also: Legislation Trackers

    Ballotpedia’s legislation trackers are your go-to resource for staying on top of key legislative topics. We capture any bill introduced on the topic across all of the 50 state legislatures, and we track the movement of the bill every step of the way. We provide real-time updates and translate legislative legalese into easily understandable language. As of the 2025 session, Ballotpedia provided tracking on the following topics. Click on the links below to view related bills from the 2025 session:

    Standing legislative committees

    See also: Standing committee and List of committees in Delaware state government


    A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

    At the beginning of the 2025 legislative session, there were 43 standing committees in Delaware's state government, including four joint legislative committees, 16 state Senate committees, and 23 state House committees.

    Joint legislative committees

    Senate committees

    House committees

    Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

    In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

    The methods by which the Delaware Constitution can be amended:

    See also: Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution and Laws governing ballot measures in Delaware

    Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution defines two mechanisms by which the Delaware Constitution can be amended—a legislative process, and a state constitutional convention. Delaware does not feature the power of citizen initiative for either initiated constitutional amendments or initiated state statutes.

    Legislature

    The Delaware General Assembly can amend the constitution. Unlike in any other state, the state legislature can amend the constitution without a vote of the people. For the legislature to amend the constitution:

    • Two-thirds of all the members elected to each chamber can vote in favor of a proposed amendment.
    • The Delaware Secretary of State then must publish the proposed amendment(s) three months prior to the next general election in at least three newspapers in each county.
    • The subsequent General Assembly then votes again on the proposed amendment(s) and if an amendment receives two-thirds majority approval of all members of each chamber, it becomes part of the constitution.

    Convention

    The state's constitution can also be amended through a constitutional convention.

    • By a two-thirds vote of both chambers of the state legislature, the question, "Shall there be a Convention to revise the Constitution and amend the same?" can go on a statewide ballot. If a simple majority of those voting on the question vote "yes," then there will be a convention.


    Historical partisan control

    The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Delaware.

    Delaware Party Control: 1992-2025
    Seventeen years of Democratic trifectas  •  No Republican trifectas
    Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

    Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
    Governor R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
    Senate D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
    House R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

    Historical Senate control

    Democrats won control of the Delaware State Senate in 1974. In 2024, they won a 15-6 majority.

    The table below shows the partisan history of the Delaware Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Delaware State Senate election results: 1992-2024

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20 '22 '24
    Democrats 15 12 15 13 13 13 13 13 16 14 13 12 11 12 14 15 15
    Republicans 6 9 6 8 8 8 8 8 5 7 8 9 10 9 7 6 6

    Before 1992

    From the 1920s through the 1950s, the Delaware Senate was competitive and it often switched partisan control. Starting in 1954, Democrats gained a majority in the chamber and did not lose it until the chamber split 9-9 between the parties in 1966. Republicans won control in the next three elections before losing to the Democrats in 1974. In the years following 1974, Democrats usually held more than 13 seats, the margin needed for a three-fifths majority capable of overriding gubernatorial vetoes.

    Historical House control

    Democrats won control of the Delaware House of Representatives in 2008. In 2024, they won a 27-14 majority.

    The table below shows the partisan history of the Delaware House following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Delaware House of Representatives election results: 1992-2024

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20 '22 '24
    Democrats 18 14 18 15 15 12 15 18 24 26 27 25 25 26 26 26 27
    Republicans 23 27 23 26 26 29 26 23 17 15 14 16 16 15 15 15 14

    Before 1992

    The Delaware House was competitive during the early 1900s. It flipped partisan control 10 times between 1912 and 1938. Republicans maintained control from the 1938 election until 1954. After that election, the chamber continued to alternate control, although not as frequently. From 1954 to 1984, control flipped six times and ended in a Republican advantage that would last another 24 years.


    Analysis

    Adopted legislation, 2011-2024

    See also: The State Legislative Decade - Delaware

    In 2024, Ballotpedia released analysis of bills enacted in each state in the preceding decade. The charts and table below detail legislation passed each year by party sponsorship.

    See also

    Elections Delaware State Government State Legislatures State Politics
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    External links

    Footnotes

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