Delaware, Attorney General

Delaware held an election for attorney general on November 6, 2018. The candidate filing deadline was July 10, 2018.

SETTING THE STAGE
Heading into the election, the attorney general of Delaware was Matthew Denn (D), who was first elected in 2014. Denn announced on August 28, 2017, that he would not seek re-election in 2018, leaving the seat open.
In 2018, Delaware was under a Democratic trifecta. It had held this status since 2009, when the Democratic Party gained a majority in the Delaware House of Representatives. Delaware was also a Democratic triplex.
The Democratic candidate won Delaware in each of the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016. The widest margin of victory was Barack Obama's 25 percent margin in 2008, while the narrowest was John Kerry's 7.6 percent margin in 2004.

State election history

This section provides an overview of federal and state elections in Delaware from 2000 to 2016. All data comes from the Delaware State Department of Elections.

Historical elections

Presidential elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the presidential election in Delaware every year from 2000 to 2016.

Election results (President of the United States), Delaware 2000-2016

Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Hillary Clinton	53.4%	Donald Trump	41.9%	11.5%
2012	Barack Obama	58.6%	Mitt Romney	40.0%	18.6%
2008	Barack Obama	61.9%	John McCain	36.9%	25.0%
2004	John Kerry	53.4%	George W. Bush	45.7%	7.7%
2000	Al Gore	54.9%	George W. Bush	41.9%	13.0%

U.S. Senate elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of U.S. Senate races in Delaware from 2000 to 2016. Every state has two Senate seats, and each seat goes up for election every six years. The terms of the seats are staggered so that roughly one-third of the seats are up every two years.

Election results (U.S. Senator), Delaware 2000-2016

Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2014	Chris Coons	55.8%	Kevin Wade	42.2%	13.6%
2012	Thomas Carper	66.4%	Kevin Wade	29.0%	37.4%
2010	Chris Coons	56.6%	Christine O'Donnell	40.0%	16.6%
2008	Joe Biden	64.7%	Christine O'Donnell	35.3%	29.4%
2006	Tom Carper	67.1%	Jan Ting	27.4%	39.7%
2002	Joe Biden	58.2%	Raymond Clatworthy	40.8%	17.4%
2000	Tom Carper	55.5%	William Roth	43.7%	11.8%

Gubernatorial elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the four gubernatorial elections held between 2000 and 2016. Gubernatorial elections are held every four years in Delaware.

Election results (Governor), Delaware 2000-2016

Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	John Carney	58.3%	Colin Bonini	39.2%	19.9%
2012	Jack Markell	69.3%	Jeff Cragg	28.6%	40.7%
2008	Jack Markell	67.5%	William Swain Lee	32.0%	35.5%
2004	Ruth Ann Minner	50.9%	William Swain Lee	45.8%	5.1%
2000	Ruth Ann Minner	59.2%	John Burris	39.7%	19.5%

Congressional delegation, 2000-2016

This chart shows the number of Democrats and Republicans who were elected to represent Delaware in the U.S. House from 2000 to 2016. Elections for U.S. House seats are held every two years.

Congressional delegation, Delaware 2000-2016

Year	Republicans	Republicans (%)	Democrats (%)	Balance of power
2016	1	100%	0%	D+1
2014	1	100%	0%	D+1
2012	1	100%	0%	D+1
2010	1	100%	0%	D+1
2008	1	100%	0%	R+1
2006	1	100%	0%	R+1
2004	1	100%	0%	R+1
2002	1	100%	0%	R+1
2000	1	100%	0%	R+1

Trifectas, 1992-2017

A state government trifecta occurs when one party controls both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office.

Delaware Party Control: 1992-2019
11 years of Democratic trifectas • No Republican trifectas

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
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
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
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

Demographics

Demographic data for Delaware

	Delaware	U.S.
Total population:	944,076	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	1,949	3,531,905
Gender
Female:	51.6%	50.8%
Race and ethnicity**
White:	69.4%	73.6%
Black/African American:	21.6%	12.6%
Asian:	3.6%	5.1%
Native American:	0.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.7%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	8.7%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	88.4%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	30%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$60,509	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	13.9%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Delaware.

As of July 2016, Delaware's three largest cities were Wilmington (pop. est. 71,106), Dover (pop. est. 37,538), and Newark (pop. est. 33,858).