Delaware: The First State
As the first state to certify its election results in 2024, Delaware shows that the shift away from Democrats penetrates into safe 'blue' states.
- Kamala Harris won Delaware by a 14-point margin, a much smaller margin than Pres. Joe Biden's previous 19-point win in 2020.
- Donald Trump improved on his 2020 margin by increasing his vote totals in every single county.
- Overall voter turnout was down compared to 2020 with New Castle county, the state's largest county, seeing a 5-point drop in turnout.
Turnout Turns Away From Democrats
Delaware saw a decrease in overall voter turnout in this election when compared to 2020. While the state gained close to 50,000 registered voters since the last presidential election, there were only 8,000 more votes cast overall in 2024 than in 2020. This change in turnout was unevenly distributed. New Castle county, the state's largest county, saw 11,000 less total votes for president in 2024. Meanwhile Sussex county, the state's second largest, saw an 18,000 vote gain in its total votes this time around. This ended up being the primary contributor to Harris' smaller winning margin when compared to Biden's in 2020.
Democrats' base of support lies in the northern half of the state, primarily centered in Wilmington. Due to lower turnout, this portion of the state made up slightly less of the overall vote, in turn giving southern Sussex county a larger share of the statewide total. While Trump still lost the state overall, he gained votes in every single county with Sussex producing over 9,000 more votes for Trump in 2024 than in 2020.
Down-Ballot
Democrats continued their Delaware winning streak in the state's U.S. House and Senate elections. Former US Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester won the state's Senate race, becoming the first Black woman to represent Delaware in the U.S. Senate. State senator Sarah McBride won the race to replace Rep. Rochester and will take Delaware's lone U.S. House seat in 2025.
Leftover Links
Sarah Petrowich
