Delaware State Senate elections, 2022
| 2022 Delaware Senate Elections | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Primary | September 13, 2022 |
| General | November 8, 2022 |
| Past Election Results |
| 2020・2018・2016・2014 2012・2010・2008 |
| 2022 Elections | |
|---|---|
| Choose a chamber below: | |
Elections for the Delaware State Senate took place in 2022. The general election was on November 8, 2022. A primary was scheduled for September 13, 2022. The filing deadline was July 12, 2022.
The Delaware State Senate was one of 88 state legislative chambers with elections in 2022. There are 99 chambers throughout the country. At the time of the 2022 elections, Republicans held a majority in more chambers than Democrats. There was a Republican majority in 62 chambers and a Democratic majority in 36 chambers. In the Alaska House, there was a power-sharing agreement between the parties as part of a coalition.
Heading into the election, Ballotpedia identified one battleground race in the Delaware State Senate 2022 elections, which was a Democratic-held district. Based on analysis of this district's electoral history, this race had the potential to be more competitive than other races and could possibly have led to shifts in a chamber's partisan balance.
All 21 seats were up for election in 2022. The chamber's Democratic majority increased from 14-7 to 15-6.
At the time of the 2022 election, Delaware had had a Democratic trifecta since 2009. If the Republican Party flipped four or more seats, then the Democratic Party would have lost its trifecta. If the Democratic Party lost no more than three seats in state senate and maintained control of the state house, they would have kept their trifecta. This was one of 28 state legislative chambers Ballotpedia identified as a battleground chamber in 2022. Click here for more on why this chamber was identified as a battleground.
Party control
| Delaware State Senate | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 8, 2022 | After November 9, 2022 | |
| Democratic Party | 14 | 15 | |
| Republican Party | 7 | 6 | |
| Total | 21 | 21 | |
Candidates
General
Delaware State Senate General Election 2022 |
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| District 6 |
Gwendolyn Jones (Nonpartisan Party) |
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| District 20 |
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| District 21 |
Chris Dalton (Libertarian Party) |
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Primary
Delaware State Senate Primary 2022 |
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The Republican primary was canceled. |
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| District 2 |
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The Republican primary was canceled. |
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| District 3 |
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The Republican primary was canceled. |
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| District 4 |
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| District 5 |
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The Republican primary was canceled. |
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| District 6 |
Did not make the ballot: |
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| District 7 |
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| District 8 |
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| District 9 |
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| District 10 |
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The Republican primary was canceled. |
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| District 11 |
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The Republican primary was canceled. |
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| District 12 |
Did not make the ballot: |
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| District 13 |
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The Republican primary was canceled. |
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| District 14 |
Michael Hill-Shaner Did not make the ballot: |
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| District 15 |
The Democratic primary was canceled. |
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| District 16 |
The Democratic primary was canceled. |
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| District 19 |
The Democratic primary was canceled. |
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| District 20 |
The Democratic primary was canceled. |
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| District 21 |
The Democratic primary was canceled. |
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2022 battleground chamber
The Delaware State Senate was among 28 state legislative chambers Ballotpedia identified as battleground chambers for the 2022 cycle.
What was at stake?
- The Republican Party needed to gain four or more seats to take control of the chamber in 2022. The Democratic Party needed to lose three or fewer seats to maintain control.
- The Republican Party flipping the state Senate would have broken the Democratic Party's trifecta. The Democratic Party would have needed to keep the state Senate as well as state House of Representatives to maintain their trifecta.
Why was it a battleground?
- Seats flipped in the last election: Three of the seats up for election (14% of seats up) flipped to a different party the last time they were up.
- Seats decided by less than 10% in the last election: Four of the seats up for election (19% of seats up) in 2022 were decided by margins of 10 percentage points or smaller the last time they were up.
- 2020 battleground chamber: The Delaware State Senate was a battleground chamber in 2020. That year, Democratic Party gained two seats from the Republican Party and maintained control of the chamber. Read more about the 2020 elections here.
Battleground races
District 6
What party controlled the seat heading into the election?
| The Republican Party |
Who were the candidates running?
What made this a battleground race?
| This was an open district where the Democratic Party maintains a partisan lean of less than 55% according to Dave's Redistricting. In 2018, Republican incumbent Ernesto Lopez was re-elected with 53% of the vote compared to Democratic candidate David Baker’s 47% of the vote. |
Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses
Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Click a link below to read survey responses from candidates in that district:
Incumbents who were not re-elected
Incumbents defeated in general elections
No incumbents lost in general elections.
Incumbents defeated in primary elections
One incumbent lost in the Sept. 13 primaries.
| Name | Party | Office |
|---|---|---|
| Colin Bonini | Senate District 16 |
Retiring incumbents
Two incumbents were not on the ballot in 2022.[1] Those incumbents were:
| Name | Party | Office | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ernesto Lopez | Senate District 6 | Retired | |
| Bruce Ennis | Senate District 14 | Retired |
Primary election competitiveness
This section contains data on state legislative primary election competitiveness in Delaware. These totals include data from all regularly-scheduled House and Senate elections. For more information about Ballotpedia's competitiveness analysis of state legislative elections, please click here.
| Delaware state legislative competitiveness, 2014-2022 | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office | Districts/ offices |
Seats | Open seats | Candidates | Possible primaries | Contested Democratic primaries | Contested Republican primaries | % of contested primaries | Incumbents in contested primaries | % of incumbents in contested primaries | ||||
| 2022 | 62 | 62 | 7 | 108 | 124 | 11 | 3 | 11.3% | 8 | 14.5% | ||||
| 2020 | 52 | 52 | 2 | 95 | 104 | 12 | 1 | 12.5% | 8 | 16.0% | ||||
| 2018 | 51 | 51 | 13 | 106 | 102 | 13 | 4 | 16.7% | 3 | 7.9% | ||||
| 2016 | 52 | 52 | 2 | 180 | 104 | 7 | 2 | 8.7% | 6 | 12.0% | ||||
| 2014 | 51 | 51 | 2 | 91 | 102 | 8 | 3 | 10.8% | 9 | 18.4% | ||||
Post-filing deadline analysis
The following analysis covers all state legislative districts up for election in Delaware in 2022. Information below was calculated on Sept. 2, 2022, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.
Delaware had 14 contested state legislative primaries in 2022, an 8% increase from 2020.
While the number of contested primaries increased, the rate of contested primaries decreased from 13% to 11%. Since more seats were up for election in 2022, the number of possible primaries similarly increased.
Of the 14 contested primaries, there were 11 for Democrats and three for Republicans. For Democrats, this was down from 12 in 2020, an 8% decrease. For Republicans, the number was up 67% from one in 2020.
Eight incumbents faced primary challenges, representing 15% of all incumbents running for re-election. This was lower than in 2020 and 2014, but higher than the 2018 and 2016 election cycles.
Of the eight incumbents in contested primaries, six were Democrats and two were Republicans.
Overall, 108 major party candidates—62 Democrats and 46 Republicans—filed to run. All 41 House and 21 Senate seats were up for election.
Seven of those seats were open, meaning no incumbents filed. This guaranteed that at least 11% of the legislature would be represented by newcomers in 2023, the second-largest such percentage compared to the four preceding election cycles behind 2018, when 21% of seats were guaranteed to newcomers.
Open seats
The table below shows the number and percentage of open seats in the Delaware State Senate from 2010 to 2022.[2] It will be updated as information becomes available following the state’s candidate filing deadline.
| Open Seats in Delaware State Senate elections: 2010 - 2022 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Total seats | Open seats | Seats with incumbents running for re-election |
| 2022 | 21 | 2 (10 percent) | 19 (90 percent) |
| 2020 | 11 | 1 (9 percent) | 10 (91 percent) |
| 2018 | 10 | 4 (40 percent) | 6 (60 percent) |
| 2016 | 11 | 1 (9 percent) | 10 (91 percent) |
| 2014 | 10 | 0 (0 percent) | 10 (100 percent) |
| 2012 | 21 | 2 (10 percent) | 19 (90 percent) |
| 2010 | 11 | 0 (0 percent) | 10 (100 percent) |
Process to become a candidate
See statutes: Title 15 of the Delaware Code
Major party candidates
A major party candidate may be nominated in one of two ways: by filing a notice of candidacy or by being nominated at convention.[3]
Filing a notice of candidacy
To be nominated at the primary election, a major party candidate must file by this method. The candidate must first file a notice of candidacy. If filing for a statewide office, the candidate must file this form with the chair of the state committee of his or her party. If seeking district office, the candidate must file this form with the chair of the county committee of his or her party. The notice of candidacy must include the signature, printed name, and address of the candidate. A candidate must be a registered member of the party he or she is seeking to represent in the election.[4][5]
A major party candidate must file a copy of the original notice of candidacy with the state election commissioner and pay the party filing fee by noon on the second Tuesday in July. Filing fees are determined by the political parties but cannot be greater than 1 percent of the total salary for the entire term of the office being sought by the candidate.[5][6][7][8]
A candidate may file an in-lieu-of-filing-fee petition if he or she is considered indigent by the state. To be considered indigent by the state, the candidate must be receiving benefits under the Supplemental Security Income Program for Aged, Blind, and Disabled, or the state election commissioner must determine that the candidate meets the income and resources test to receive such benefits. In order to determine indigent status, the candidate must provide copies of his or her income tax returns and must authorize the state election commissioner to receive any other information that might be needed from banks, credit reporting services, etc.[7]
The in-lieu-of-filing-fee petition must be signed by a number of registered voters equal to 1 percent of all registered voters in the election district(s) in which the candidate will appear on the ballot. These petitions cannot be circulated until after January 1 of the year of the election in which the candidate is running.[7]
Nomination at a party convention
A major party candidate may be nominated at a state convention only for offices for which no candidate has filed or for offices for which minor party candidates have been selected. A candidate nominated at a convention must be registered with the party he or she seeks to represent at the time of the convention. Conventions to nominate such candidates must be held before August 1 of the year of the election. If any candidates are nominated by convention, the presiding officer and secretary of the convention must submit a certificate of nomination to the state election commissioner by September 1 in the year of the election. If September 1 falls on a weekend or holiday, this certificate must be filed by the next business day.[3][9]
Minor party candidates
Minor party candidates are selected by conventions. To be nominated at a convention, a candidate must be a registered member of the minor party. These nominating conventions must be held on or before August 1 in the year of the election. For a candidate for statewide office, the party must file a nominating resolution with the state election commissioner by 4:30 p.m. on August 15 in the year of the election. For a candidate for a district office, the party must file a nominating resolution with the appropriate local election official by 4:30 p.m. on August 15 in the year of the election. A nominating resolution must contain the candidate's name and address and the office for which he or she was nominated. Certificates of nomination for each candidate must be filed by September 1 in the year of the election.[9]
Unaffiliated candidates
Unaffiliated candidates petition to gain access to the general election ballot. An unaffiliated candidate must collect signatures equal to 1 percent of all eligible voters as of December 31 of the year prior to the election. The petition can be circulated between January 1 and July 15 of the election year and must be filed with the department of elections in each county in which the petition was circulated. An unaffiliated candidate must also file a sworn declaration stating that he or she has not been affiliated with any political party for at least three months prior to filing as an unaffiliated candidate. This form is filed with the state election commissioner.[10]
Write-in candidates
Write-in candidates are only permitted to run in general or special elections. To have his or her votes counted, a write-in candidate must file a declaration form. If running for statewide office, the candidate must file this form with the state election commissioner. If running for a district office, the form must be filed with the appropriate local department of elections.[11][12]
A candidate cannot run as a write-in if he or she has already been placed on the general election ballot. Additionally, a candidate cannot run as a write-in if he or she withdrew as a candidate in the same election year.[12]
Residency requirements
A candidate for elective office must provide the state election commissioner with proof of residency. Proof of residency must show that the candidate lives in the district or area that the candidate seeks to represent.[13]
Qualifications
Article II, Section 3 of the Delaware Constitution states: No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained the age of twenty-seven years and have been a citizen and inhabitant of the State three years next preceding the day of his election and the last year of that term an inhabitant of the Senatorial District in which he shall be chosen, unless he shall have been absent on the public business of the United States or of this State.
Salaries and per diem
- See also: Comparison of state legislative salaries
| State legislative salaries, 2024[14] | |
|---|---|
| Salary | Per diem |
| $50,678/year | No per diem is paid. |
When sworn in
Delaware legislators assume office the first Wednesday after the first Monday in November (the day after election day).[15][16]
Delaware political history
Trifectas
A state government trifecta is a term that describes single-party government, when one political party holds the governor's office and has majorities in both chambers of the legislature in a state government.
Delaware Party Control: 1992-2025
Seventeen years of Democratic trifectas • No Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
| Senate | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
| House | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
Presidential politics in Delaware
2020 Presidential election results
Candidate/Running mate |
% |
Popular votes |
Electoral votes |
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| ✔ |
| Joe Biden/Kamala D. Harris (D) |
58.7
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296,268 | 3 |
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| Donald Trump/Mike Pence (R) |
39.8
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200,603 | 0 | |
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| Jo Jorgensen/Spike Cohen (L) |
1.0
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5,000 | 0 | |
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| Howie Hawkins/Angela Nicole Walker (G) |
0.4
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2,139 | 0 | |
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| Ye (no running mate) (Unaffiliated) (Write-in) |
0.0
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169 | 0 | |
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| Brian T. Carroll (no running mate) (Unaffiliated) (Write-in) |
0.0
|
87 | 0 | |
| Jade Simmons/Claudeliah Roze (Unaffiliated) (Write-in) |
0.0
|
28 | 0 | |
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| Gloria La Riva (no running mate) (Unaffiliated) (Write-in) |
0.0
|
14 | 0 | |
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| Mark Charles (no running mate) (Unaffiliated) |
0.0
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8 | 0 | |
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| Barbara Ruth Bellar (no running mate) (Unaffiliated) (Write-in) |
0.0
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7 | 0 | |
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| Brock Pierce/Karla Ballard (Unaffiliated) (Write-in) |
0.0
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5 | 0 | |
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| Shawn W. Howard (no running mate) (Unaffiliated) (Write-in) |
0.0
|
4 | 0 | |
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| Dennis Ball (no running mate) (Unaffiliated) (Write-in) |
0.0
|
3 | 0 | |
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| Todd Cella (no running mate) (Unaffiliated) (Write-in) |
0.0
|
2 | 0 | |
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| Princess Khadijah Maryam Jacob-Fambro (no running mate) (Unaffiliated) |
0.0
|
2 | 0 | |
|
| Mitchell Williams (no running mate) (Unaffiliated) (Write-in) |
0.0
|
2 | 0 | |
|
| President Boddie (no running mate) (Unaffiliated) |
0.0
|
1 | 0 | |
|
| Kathryn Gibson (no running mate) (Unaffiliated) (Write-in) |
0.0
|
1 | 0 | |
|
| Tom Hoefling/Andy Prior (Unaffiliated) |
0.0
|
1 | 0 | |
|
| Deborah Rouse (no running mate) (Unaffiliated) (Write-in) |
0.0
|
1 | 0 | |
|
| Kasey Wells (no running mate) (Unaffiliated) (Write-in) |
0.0
|
1 | 0 | |
| Total votes: 504,346 |
Voting information
- See also: Voting in Delaware
Redistricting following the 2020 census
On November 2, 2021, Gov. John Carney (D) signed Senate Bill 199 into law, enacting the state's new House and Senate district lines.[17] The Delaware General Assembly previously approved the final House and Senate map proposals on November 1, 2021.[18] The Delaware House of Representatives voted 40-1 in favor of the maps with state Rep. Michael Smith (R) voting against it. The Delaware State Senate approved the maps along party lines with all 14 Democrats in favor and all seven Republicans against.[18] These maps took effect for Delaware's 2022 legislative elections.
Below is the state Senate map in effect before and after the 2020 redistricting cycle.
Delaware State Senate Districts
until November 8, 2022
Click a district to compare boundaries.
Delaware State Senate Districts
starting November 9, 2022
Click a district to compare boundaries.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Ballotpedia defines an incumbent as retiring if the incumbent did not file for office or filed for office but withdrew, was disqualified, or otherwise left a race in a manner other than losing the primary, primary runoff, or convention. If an incumbent runs as a write-in candidate, Ballotpedia does not consider them to be retiring. If an incumbent runs in the same chamber for a different seat, Ballotpedia does not consider them to be retiring.
- ↑ Ballotpedia defines a seat as open if the incumbent did not file to run for re-election or filed but withdrew and did not appear on any ballot for his or her seat. If the incumbent withdrew from or did not participate in the primary but later chose to seek re-election to his or her seat as a third party or independent candidate, the seat would not be counted as open. If the incumbent retired or ran for a different seat in the same chamber, his or her original seat would be counted as open unless another incumbent from the same chamber filed to run for that seat, in which case it would not be counted as open due to the presence of an incumbent.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Delaware Code, "Title 15, Chapter 33, Section 3301," accessed March 6, 2025
- ↑ Delaware Code, "Title 15, Chapter 31, Subchapter I, Section 3101A," accessed March 6, 2025
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Delaware Code, "Title 15, Chapter 31, Subchapter I, Section 3106," accessed March 6, 2025
- ↑ Delaware Code, "Title 15, Chapter 31, Subchapter I, Section 3101," accessed March 6, 2025
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Delaware Code, "Title 15, Chapter 31, Subchapter I, Section 3103," accessed March 6, 2025
- ↑ Delaware Elections, "Candidate Filing Fees," accessed March 6, 2025
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Delaware Code, "Title 15, Chapter 33, Section 3303," accessed March 6, 2025
- ↑ Delaware Code, "Title 15, Chapter 30, Section 3002," accessed March 6, 2025
- ↑ Delaware Code, "Title 15, Chapter 34, Section 3401," accessed March 6, 2025
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Delaware Code, "Title 15, Chapter 34, Section 3402," accessed March 6, 2025
- ↑ Delaware General Assembly, "House Bill 183," accessed March 6, 2025
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "2024 Legislator Compensation," August 21, 2024
- ↑ Delaware Constitution, "Article II, Section 3," accessed November 1, 2021
- ↑ Delaware Constitution, "Article II, Section 4," accessed November 1, 2021
- ↑ Delaware General Assembly, "Senate Bill 199," accessed Nov. 15, 2021
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 WGMD, "Redistricting Legislation Passes in Delaware – Waiting for Governor’s Signature," Nov. 1, 2021
