2020 United States Senate election in Delaware

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2020 United States Senate election in Delaware
Flag of Delaware.svg
  2014 November 3, 2020 2026  
  Chris Coons, official portrait, 112th Congress (cropped).jpg 3x4.svg
Nominee Chris Coons Lauren Witzke
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote291,804186,054
Percentage59.44%37.90%

Delaware state election results.svg
DE Senate 2020.svg
Coons:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%
Witzke:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
     No data

U.S. senator before election

Chris Coons
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

Chris Coons
Democratic

The 2020 United States Senate election in Delaware was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Delaware, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections.

Contents

Incumbent Democratic senator Chris Coons ran for reelection to a second full term and won against Republican challenger Lauren Witzke with 59.4% of the vote. He outperformed Democratic presidential nominee and former Delaware Senator Joe Biden (whose seat Coons was elected to in a 2010 special election) by 0.7 percentage points, compared to the concurrent presidential election. [1] Coons also won Kent County, a swing county, for the first time in his senatorial career.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

  • Jessica Scarane, technology executive [5] [6]

Withdrawn

Declined

Endorsements

Chris Coons

U.S. vice presidents

State executives

State legislators

Individuals

Organizations

Jessica Scarane

State legislators

Organizations

Political parties

Polling

Hypothetical head-to-head polling

with Lisa Blunt Rochester and Chris Coons

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered
Sample
size [a]
Margin
of error
Lisa
Blunt Rochester
Chris
Coons
Undecided
Data for Progress [46] November 15–25, 2019528 (LV)± 6.1%31%35%34%

with Chris Coons and more liberal female Democrat

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered
Sample
size [a]
Margin
of error
Chris
Coons
More liberal
female Democrat
Undecided
Data for Progress [46] November 15–25, 2019528 (LV)± 6.1%24% [b] 45%31%
32% [c] 36%32%
32% [d] 36%33%

Results

Results by county:
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Coons--70-80%
Coons--60-70% Delaware U.S. Senate Democratic primary, 2020.svg
Results by county:
  Coons—70–80%
  Coons—60–70%
Democratic primary results [47]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Chris Coons (incumbent) 87,332 72.85%
Democratic Jessica Scarane32,54727.15%
Total votes119,879 100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Declined

Endorsements

James DeMartino

Organizations

  • Delaware Colonial Region Republicans [53]

Political parties

Lauren Witzke

U.S. representatives

Individuals

Results

Results by county:
Witzke--60-70%
Witzke--50-60% Delaware U.S. Senate Republican primary, 2020.svg
Results by county:
  Witzke—60–70%
  Witzke—50–60%
Republican primary results [47]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Lauren Witzke 30,702 56.89%
Republican James DeMartino23,26643.11%
Total votes53,968 100.00%

Other candidates

Libertarian Party

Nominee

  • Nadine Frost, Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018 [58]

Independent Party of Delaware

Nominee

  • Mark Turley, small business owner [59]

General election

Prior to the election, Chris Coons' re-election was considered to be a near certainty regardless of the Republican challenger. The choice of Lauren Witzke, a controversial extremist and believer of QAnon, as the nominee, only cemented this prediction. Networks declared Coons the winner as soon as voting ended, based on exit polling alone. Coons also outperformed Biden (who also once held this Senate seat) in terms of percentage, but underperformed in terms of raw vote, likely due to the lack of third-party Senate candidates.

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
The Cook Political Report [60] Solid DOctober 29, 2020
Inside Elections [61] Safe DOctober 28, 2020
Sabato's Crystal Ball [62] Safe DNovember 2, 2020
Daily Kos [63] Safe DOctober 30, 2020
Politico [64] Safe DNovember 2, 2020
RCP [65] Safe DOctober 23, 2020
DDHQ [66] Safe DNovember 3, 2020
538 [67] Safe DNovember 2, 2020
Economist [68] Safe DNovember 2, 2020

Endorsements

Chris Coons (D)

U.S. vice presidents

State executives

State legislators

Individuals

Labor unions

Organizations

Lauren Witzke (R)

Members of U.S. Congress

  • Paul Gosar, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona (2011–present) [55]

Individuals

  • Nick Fuentes, far-right political commentator, podcaster and white nationalist [72]

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered
Sample
size [a]
Margin
of error
Chris
Coons (D)
Lauren
Witzke (R)
Other/
Undecided
University of Delaware [73] September 21–27, 2020847 (LV)57%27%17% [e]

Results

United States Senate election in Delaware, 2020 [74]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic Chris Coons (incumbent) 291,804 59.44% +3.61%
Republican Lauren Witzke 186,05437.90%−4.33%
Independent Party Mark Turley7,8331.59%N/A
Libertarian Nadine Frost5,2441.07%N/A
Total votes490,935 100.0%
Democratic hold

By county

By county
County Chris Coons
Democratic
Lauren Witzke
Republican
Mark Turley
IPoD
Nadine Frost
Libertarian
MarginTotal
votes
#%#%#%#%#%
Kent 43,89351.6538,57145.391,5531.839581.135,3226.2684,975
New Castle 191,77468.6280,08128.654,2771.533,3301.19111,69339.97279,462
Sussex 56,13744.3867,40253.282,0031.589560.76-11,265-8.90126,498
Totals291,80459.44186,05437.907,8331.605,2441.07105,75021.54490,935

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic [75]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Key:
    A – all adults
    RV – registered voters
    LV – likely voters
    V – unclear
  2. After being presented with a liberal set of arguments regarding Chris Coons
  3. After being presented with a conservative set of arguments regarding Chris Coons
  4. Voting intention without being presented with any arguments regarding Chris Coons
  5. "None/other/undecided" with 11%; Turley (DI) with 4%; Frost (L) with 2%

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Lauren Elena Witzke is an American far-right political activist known for her anti-LGBT views and promotion of QAnon. Witzke was the Republican nominee in the 2020 United States Senate election in Delaware, which she lost to incumbent Democrat Chris Coons. She is a former TV show host for TruNews.

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Official campaign websites