2020 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware

2020 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware, at-large district

←  2018 November 3, 2020 2022  →

Candidate Lisa Blunt Rochester Lee Murphy Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 281,382 196,392 Percentage 57.6% 40.2%

County results Precinct results Rochester:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90% Murphy:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%      No data

U.S. Representative before election Lisa Blunt Rochester Democratic Elected U.S. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester Democratic

The 2020 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the U.S. representative from Delaware's at-large congressional district. The election coincided with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections. The Democratic and Republican primaries was held on September 15, 2020.

Incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester ran for re-election to a third term. She was re-elected with 64.5% of the vote in 2018. ^[1]

The Republican nominee was Lee Murphy, a private citizen who worked for most of his life at Amtrak as a conductor and manager. ^[2] Murphy had also worked as an actor and had appeared in Netflix's House of Cards.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Lisa Blunt Rochester, incumbent U.S. representative ^[3]

Declined

• Scott Walker, Republican nominee for Delaware's at-large congressional district in 2018 ^{[4] [5]} (ran for Governor as a Republican)

Endorsements

Lisa Blunt Rochester

Organizations

• Sierra Club ^[6]

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Lee Murphy, actor and candidate for Delaware's at-large congressional district in 2018 ^[7]

Eliminated in primary

• Matthew Morris, sales consultant ^[8]

Results

Republican primary results ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lee Murphy	39,179	73.81%
	Republican	Matthew Morris	13,901	26.19%
Total votes			53,080	100.00%

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Nominee

• David L. Rogers ^[10]

Independent Party of Delaware

Declared

• Catherine S. Purcell, college student and pro-Trump activist ^[10]

General election

Debate

2020 Delaware U.S. House of Representatives debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Democratic	Republican	Libertarian	Independent Party of Delaware
Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Lisa Blunt Rochester	Lee Murphy	David Rogers	Catherine Purcell
1	Oct. 14, 2020	University of Delaware	Ralph Begleiter	[11]	P	P	N	N

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report [12]	Safe D	November 2, 2020
Inside Elections [13]	Safe D	October 28, 2020
Sabato's Crystal Ball [14]	Safe D	November 2, 2020
Politico [15]	Safe D	November 2, 2020
Daily Kos [16]	Safe D	November 2, 2020
RCP [17]	Safe D	November 2, 2020

Endorsements

Lisa Blunt Rochester (D)

Organizations

• Sierra Club ^[6]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size [a]	Margin of error	Lisa Blunt Rochester (D)	Lee Murphy (R)	Catherine Purcell (DI)	David Rogers (L)	Other/ Undecided
University of Delaware [18]	September 21–27, 2020	847 (LV)	–	51%	29%	5%	3%	13% [b]

Results

2020 Delaware's at-large congressional district election ^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Lisa Blunt Rochester (incumbent)	281,382	57.63%	−6.63%
	Republican	Lee Murphy	196,392	40.22%	+4.78%
	Independent Party	Catherine S. Purcell	6,682	1.37%	N/A
	Libertarian	David L. Rogers	3,814	0.78%	N/A
Total votes			488,270	100.0%	N/A
	Democratic hold

By county

County Lisa Blunt Rochester Democratic Lee Murphy Republican Catherine Purcell Delaware Independent David Rogers Libertarian Margin Total votes # % # % # % # % # % New Castle 184,337 66.31 87,581 31.50 3,831 1.38 2,255 0.81 96,796 34.82 278,004 Kent 42,984 50.79 39,586 46.78 1,284 1.52 768 0.91 3,398 4.01 84,622 Sussex 54,061 43.03 69,225 55.10 1,567 1.25 791 0.63 −15,164 −12.07 125,644 Totals 281,382 57.63 196,392 40.22 6,682 1.37 3,814 0.78 84,990 17.41 488,270

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
2. "None/other/undecided" with 13%

References

1. Wasserman, David; Flinn, Ally (November 7, 2018). "2018 House Popular Vote Tracker". Cook Political Report. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
2. Cherry, Amy (July 3, 2018). "'House of Cards' actor to run for US Congress in Delaware" . Retrieved October 8, 2020.
3. @CATargetBot (April 13, 2019). "NEW FEC F2 Lisa Blunt Rochester (DEM) #DE00 (D-Blunt Rochester) http://classic.fec.gov/fecviewer/CommitteeDetailFilings.do?tabIndex=3&candidateCommitteeId=H6DE00206 …" (Tweet). Retrieved June 8, 2019– via Twitter.
4. "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.
5. Auen, Austin (September 6, 2019). "Scott Walker just announced a primary to John Carney..." Facebook . Archived from the original on November 8, 2019. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
6. "Sierra Club #ClimateVoter Guide: Endorsements". Sierra Club.
7. McAneny, D. J. (August 19, 2020). "'I stand for the working man', GOP-endorsed Murphy hopes to challenge Blunt Rochester for Delaware's US House seat". WDEL. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
8. Matthew Morris: Republican Candidate for US House of Representatives (Delaware) (Podcast). Getting 2 Know U Pod. Vol. 65. August 8, 2020. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024.
9. "2020 State Primary Election Report". Delaware.gov. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
10. "State of Delaware - Department of Elections". Office of the State Election Commissioner. Archived from the original on July 28, 2019. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
11. Center for Political Communication, University of Delaware (October 19, 2020) [occurred October 14, 2020]. Delaware Debates 2020—U.S. House of Representatives (Video). We Are The People: National Agenda 2020. Archived from the original on May 14, 2023 – via YouTube.
12. "2020 House Race Ratings for November 2, 2020". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
13. "2020 House Ratings". House Ratings. The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
14. "2020 House race ratings". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
15. "2020 Election Forecast". Politico. April 5, 2021.
16. "2020 House Race Ratings". Daily Kos Elections. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
17. "Battle for House 2020". RCP . Retrieved April 5, 2021.
18. UD Center for Political Communication (October 5, 2020). "Poll: Democrats lead by big margins in Delaware : Biden, Carney, Blunt Rochester and Coons bolstered by support among women voters heading into the 2020 election". UDaily. Newark, DE: Office of Communications & Marketing, University of Delaware. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024.
19. "2020 General Election Report". Delaware Department of Elections. Retrieved November 11, 2020.

External links

• Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, "Delaware", Voting & Elections Toolkits
• "Delaware: Election Tools, Deadlines, Dates, Rules, and Links", Vote.org , Oakland, CA
• "League of Women Voters of Delaware". (state affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
• Delaware at Ballotpedia

Official campaign websites

• Lisa Blunt Rochester (D) for Congress
• Lee Murphy (R) for Congress Archived September 1, 2021, at the Wayback Machine