DELAWARE 3 Electoral Votes
Population 
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau)
Total Population, April 1, 2000 783,600
Voting Age Population, Nov. 2000 582,000 % change from '96  +5.4
Total Registration, Oct. 2000  503,672
Dem. 214,515 (42.6%)   Rep. 171,447 (34.0%)   Others 117,710 (23.4%)
Delaware has: 3 counties: New Castle, Sussex, Kent.

Government 
Governor: Thomas R. Carper (D) term expires in 2000; ran for U.S. Senate.
State Legislature: Delaware General Assembly  House: 15D, 26R  Senate 13D, 8R
Local: Cities and Towns  New Castle, Sussex, Kent   NACO Counties
U.S. House: 1R - At-Large...Michael N. Castle (R)
U.S. Senate: William V. Roth (R) up for re-election in 2000, Joseph R. Biden (D) up for re-election in 2002. 
Changes as of the November 2000 Elections
Governor: Ruth Ann Minner (D) elected.
State Legislature:  All 41 House seats and 11 of 21 Senate seats were up.  No change in the partisan makeup of either chamber.
U.S. House:  Michael N. Castle (R) re-elected.
U.S. SenateThomas R. Carper (D) elected.

The First State

 State of Delaware
Department of Elections

DE Republican State Comm.
Democratic Party of DE
Green Party of DE
Libertarian Party of DE
Natural Law Party-DE
Reform Party of DE
Constitution Party-DE

The News Journal
Media (Newsp.)
Media (TV)

Politics1-DE

General Election -- Tuesday, November 7, 2000
Past Results
1996
Clinton (Dem.)........140,355
(51.82)
Dole (Rep.)..............99,062
(36.58)
Perot (Ind.)..............28,719
(10.60)
Others (3+w/ins)........2,709
(1.00)
Total........270,845

1992
Clinton (Dem.)........126,054
(43.51)
Bush (Rep.)............102,313
(35.31)
Perot (Unaff.)............59,213
(20.44)
Others (2+w/ins).........2,155
(0.74)
Total........289,735

Results
2000
+Gore/Lieberman (Dem.)
180,068
 (54.96)
Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
137,288
(41.90)
Phillips/Frazier (Const.)
208
(0.06)
Nader/LaDuke (Grn.)
8,307
(2.54)
Browne/Olivier (Lib.)
774
(0.24)
Hagelin/Goldhaber (NLP)
107
(0.03)
Buchanan/Foster (Ref.)
777
 (0.24)
Write In
92
(0.03)
Total........327,621  

Turnout as a percentage of voting age population was 56.28%.  (U.S. avg: 53.76%).

Overview
Delaware was talked about as a battleground state, and the campaigns advertised and had staff in the state, but in the end the Gore-Lieberman ticket won with a comfortable plurality of 42,780 votes (13.06 percentage points).  In one of the most closely fought Senate races in the country, Gov. Thomas R. Carper (D) defeated incumbent Sen. William V. Roth Jr. (R), 55.5% to 43.7%.  In the gubernatorial race, Lt. Gov. Ruth Ann Minner (D) won by a wide margin over John M. Burris (R) to keep the seat in Democratic hands.
General Election Activity

 
Primary and Caucus Results
. Delaware Code (Title 15, Chapter 31, Section 3181) requires "a presidential primary election for all political parties shall be conducted on the Saturday next following the day on which the state of New Hampshire elects to conduct a presidential primary election."
. As provided by the Code, parties can opt out of the state-run primary.  The Delaware Republican State Committee did so in August 1999.  Delaware Republicans wanted to attract candidates' visits and resources, and most candidates were committed to respecting New Hampshire's seven day window, so the party ran its own primary on Feb. 8.  Democrats did not opt out; the Feb. 5 primary, which had no effect on the selection of delegates, cost the state $350,000.

 Republicans 
Presidential Primary
Tuesday Feb. 8, 2000
. Party run primary  Absentees and 28 of 28 polling locations reporting.
Total Vote
Percent
Gary Bauer1
120
0.40%
+George W. Bush
15,250
50.73%
Steve Forbes
5,883
19.57%
Orrin Hatch1
21
0.07%
Alan Keyes
1,148
3.82%
John McCain
7,638
25.41%
Total
30,060
1. Candidate withdrew before primary but was on ballot. 
Details
Total Delegates 
12 of 2,066 (0.6%).

Delegate Allocation
"All of Delaware's delegates to the national convention are bound to the winner of the presidential primary for the first ballot."

Bush-12

 



Democrats 
District Caucuses
Monday March 27, 2000. 
State Convention 
Saturday April 8, 2000.
. All Democrats registered as of March 17 could participate in the district caucuses. Caucuses were held in all 41 State House Districts on March 27; each sent at least 4 delegates to the State Convention held April 8 at Delaware State University in Dover.

Democratic Presidential Primary
Saturday Feb. 5, 2000
Note: Primary was a beauty contest only.
196 of 196 districts reporting.
Total Vote
Percent
Bill Bradley
 4,476
 40.2%
Al Gore
6,377
 57.2%
Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr.
 288
 2.6%
Total
 11,141
Total Pledged Delegates
15 of 3,537 (0.4%).
Total Delegates
22 of 4,335 (0.5%).

Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.