United States House of Representatives election in Delaware, 2016

Last updated April 01, 2019

The 2016 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware was held on November 8, 2016, to elect the U.S. Representative from the state of Delaware from Delaware's at-large congressional district. The election coincided with the 2016 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 primaries were held on September 13.

The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they comprise the legislature of the United States.

In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders. Four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names.

Delaware is one of the 50 states of the United States, in the South-Atlantic or Southern region. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, north by Pennsylvania, and east by New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean. The state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor.

The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party.

John Charles Carney Jr. is an American politician who is the 74th Governor of Delaware, serving since January 2017. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and served as the U.S. Representative for Delaware's at-large congressional district from 2011 to 2017 prior to his governorship. Carney was also the 24th Lieutenant Governor of Delaware from 2001 to 2009 and served as Delaware's Secretary of Finance. He first unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Governor of Delaware in 2008, losing to Jack Markell. He ran for Governor of Delaware again in 2016 and won to succeed Markell, who was term-limited.

The incumbent is the current holder of an office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent(s). For example, in the Hungarian presidential election, 2017, János Áder was the incumbent, because he had been the president in the term before the term for which the election sought to determine the president. A race without an incumbent is referred to as an open seat.

Democratic primary

Democrats Bryon Short, a member of the Delaware House of Representatives from Highland Woods, and Bryan Townsend, a member of the Delaware Senate from Newark, Delaware, had previously said they would run for the seat if Carney ran for governor.^[1]^[2] Following Carney's announcement that he would run for governor, both Short and Townsend declared their candidacies in the race to succeed him.^[3]^[4] Lisa Blunt Rochester, the former State Labor Secretary, also joined the race.^[5] Short later withdrew from the race, citing difficulties fundraising.^[6] Rochester won the primary with 43.8% of the vote.^[7]

Bryon H. Short is an American politician. He was a Democratic member of the Delaware House of Representatives from 2006 to 2018. Short earned a BA in psychology from Salisbury University.

The Delaware House of Representatives is the lower house of the Delaware General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Delaware. It is composed of 41 Representatives from an equal number of constituencies, each of whom is elected to a two-year term. Its members are not subject to term limits. The House meets at the Delaware Legislative Hall in Dover.

Highland Woods is an unincorporated community in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. Highland Woods is located south of Darley Road to the west of Claymont.

Candidates

Nominee

Lisa Blunt Rochester, former State Labor Secretary, former State Personnel Director, and former CEO of the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League^[5]

Lisa LaTrelle Blunt Rochester is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for Delaware's at-large congressional district since 2017. She is a member of the Democratic Party.

Eliminated in primary

Bryan Townsend, State Senator^[4]
Sean Barney, former policy director for Governor Jack Markell and nominee for State Treasurer in 2014 ^[8]^[5]
Mike Miller, businessman and perennial candidate^[9]

Bryan Jeffrey Schurgard Townsend is an American politician who represents District 11 in the Delaware Senate. Townsend graduated from the University of Delaware in 2003.

Withdrawn

Bryon Short, State Representative^[3]^[6]

Declined

Marla Blunt Carter, college professor and former congressional aide^[8]^[5]
Chris Bullock, President of the New Castle County Council (running for re-election)^[10]^[11]^[12]
John Carney, incumbent U.S. Representative (running for Governor)^[1]
Jack Markell, Governor of Delaware^[8]
Brenda Mayrack, former executive director of the Delaware Democratic Party and nominee for State Auditor in 2014 ^[10]
Collin O'Mara, President & CEO of the National Wildlife Federation and former State Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary^[13]
Dennis E. Williams, former State Representative and nominee in 1996 and 1998 ^[8]

New Castle County is the northernmost of the three counties of the U.S. state of Delaware. As of the 2010 census, the population was 538,479, making it the most populous county in Delaware, with just under 60% of the state's population of 897,936 in the same census. The county seat is Wilmington.

Jack Alan Markell is an American former businessman and politician who served as the 73rd Governor of Delaware from 2009 to 2017. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Endorsements

Sean Barney
Lawrence Lessig, law professor^[14]

Lisa Blunt Rochester
Margaret Rose Henry, State Senator^[15] Valerie Longhurst, Delaware House Majority Leader^[15] Debra Heffernan, State Representative^[15] Stephanie T. Bolden, State Representative^[15] Andria Bennett, State Representative^[15] Kimberly Williams, State Representative^[15] EMILY's List ^[16] National Women's Political Caucus ^[17]

Bryan Townsend
Coby Owens, social justice activist, CEO of Youth Caucus of America, and 2016 delegate for Bernie Sanders Donald Morton, civil rights leader^[18] Karen E. Peterson, State Senator^[18]

Bryon Short (withdrawn)

Stephanie Bolden, State Representative^[18]
Gerald Brady, State Representative^[18]
William Carson, Jr., State Representative^[18]
Debra Heffernan, State Representative^[18]
Earl Jaques, Jr., State Representative^[18]
Quinn Johnson, State Representative^[18]
John Kowalko, State Representative^[18]
Sean Lynn, State Representative^[18]
Sean Matthews, State Representative^[18]
Trey Paradee, State Representative^[18]
Peter Schwartzkopf, Speaker of the Delaware House of Representatives ^[18]
Melanie G. Smith, State Representative^[18]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Sean Barney	Lisa Blunt Rochester	Mike Miller	Bryan Townsend	Scott Walker	Elias Weir	Other	Undecided
Fairleigh Dickinson University	July 20–24, 2016	344	± 5.3%	4%	11%	9%	11%	6%	0%	1%	52%
Gravis Marketing	April 17–18, 2016	1,026	± 3.1%	12%	8%	—	19%	—	—	—	61%

Results

Democratic primary results^[19]^[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Lisa Blunt Rochester	27,920	43.76
	Democratic	Bryan Townsend	15,847	24.84
	Democratic	Sean Barney	12,891	20.20
	Democratic	Micheal Miller	3,500	5.48
	Democratic	Scott Walker	3,156	4.94
	Democratic	Elias Weir	480	0.78
Total votes			63,794	100

Republican primary

Hans Reigle, a former mayor of Wyoming, Delaware, and the former chairman of the Kent County Republican Party, ran unopposed on the ballot for the Republican nomination.^[21]