2010 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware

Last updated

2010 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware
Flag of Delaware.svg
  2008 November 2, 2010 2012  
  John C. Carney Jr. official portrait 112th Congress (1).jpg 3x4.svg
Nominee John Carney Glen Urquhart
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote173,543125,442
Percentage56.78%41.04%

House of Representatives election in Delaware, 2008 by county.svg
2010 United States House election in Delaware results map by state house district.svg
Carney:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%
Urquhart:     50–60%     60–70%

U.S. Representative before election

Mike Castle
Republican

Elected U.S. Representative

John Carney
Democratic

The 2010 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware was held on November 2, 2010, to determine who would represent the state of Delaware in the United States House of Representatives for the 112th United States Congress. Democratic nominee former Lieutenant Governor, John Carney defeated Republican nominee Glen Urquhart, giving Delaware an all Democratic congressional delegation for the first time since before the 1942 midterms. [1] This is the first open seat election since 1992 and only the second since 1976.

Contents

Overview

Map of Delaware's at-large congressional district Delaware at large.png
Map of Delaware's at-large congressional district

The state of Delaware is completely contained in a single at-large district. The district has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+7. [2] Since 1993, the district had been represented by Republican Michael Castle.

Castle announced in 2009 he would run for the United States Senate seat [3] held by Ted Kaufman (D) who had been appointed to the seat when his predecessor, Joe Biden (D), resigned to become Vice President. Castle was defeated by Christine O'Donnell in the Delaware Republican Senate primary.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Carney announced his candidacy on April 15, 2009, and was unopposed in the primary after Scott Spencer, a transportation consultant, dropped out. [4] [5]

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary results [6]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Glen Urquhart 27,343 48.64
Republican Michele Rollins26,78947.66
Republican Rose Izzo2,0823.70
Total votes56,214 100.00

Campaign

According to a September 2010 poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind, "likely voters in Delaware split 45%-40% on whether they prefer[ed] to have the U.S. Congress controlled by the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, suggesting that the First State's open congressional seat might be hotly contested," yet in the same poll, Carney led Urquhart by 51%-36%. [7] Peter Woolley, the poll director, remarked that "candidates matter, not just parties" and that in Delaware candidates matter "more than in most states." [7]

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s) administeredGlen
Urquhart (R)
John
Carney (D)
Monmouth University [8] October 25–27, 201044%51%
Fairleigh Dickinson [9] October 20–26, 201036%53%
Monmouth University [10] October 8–11, 201044%53%
Fairleigh Dickinson [11] September 27 – October 3, 201036%51%
University of Delaware [12] September 16–30, 201031%48%
Wilson Research Strategies [13] September 27–28, 201041%45%
Grove Insight [14] September 15–18, 201032%50%
Public Policy Polling [15] September 11–12, 201037%48%
Public Policy Polling [16] August 7–8, 201030%48%

General election

Results

Delaware's at-large congressional district election, 2010 [17]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic John Carney 173,543 56.78
Republican Glen Urquhart125,44241.04
Independent Party Earl R. Lofland3,7041.21
Libertarian Brent A. Wangen1,9860.65
Blue Enigma Jeffrey Brown9610.31
Total votes305,636 100.00
Democratic gain from Republican

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

References

  1. Elections 2010:Delaware
  2. "Cook Political Report, PVI for the 110th Congress" (PDF). Cook Political Report. June 20, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 26, 2008. Retrieved February 15, 2009.
  3. Josh Kraushaar (October 6, 2009). "Castle running for the Senate". Politico. Retrieved October 7, 2009.
  4. "Delaware Con Carney - Hotline On Call". Hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved July 28, 2009.
  5. "Courierpostonline - Transportation consultant plans congressional bid". Content.usatoday.net. March 30, 2009. Retrieved July 28, 2009.
  6. "State of Delaware - Department of Elections - State of Delaware". Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
  7. 1 2 "Delaware Republicans Losing House Seat," FDU PublicMind, Oct. 5, 2010. Retrieved 2/24/11.
  8. Monmouth University
  9. Fairleigh Dickinson
  10. Monmouth University
  11. Fairleigh Dickinson
  12. University of Delaware
  13. Wilson Research Strategies
  14. Grove Insight
  15. Public Policy Polling
  16. Public Policy Polling
  17. "State of Delaware - Department of Elections - State of Delaware". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2011.