Delaware Attorney General election, 2018

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Delaware Attorney General
	Democratic primary; Republican primary; General election
Election details
	Filing deadline: July 10, 2018
	Primary: September 6, 2018; General: November 6, 2018; Pre-election incumbent(s):; Matthew Denn (Democrat)
How to vote
	Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Voting in Delaware
Ballotpedia analysis
	Federal and state primary competitiveness; State executive elections in 2018; Impact of term limits in 2018; State government trifectas; State government triplexes; Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2018
Delaware; executive elections
	Attorney general; Treasurer; Auditor

Delaware held an election for attorney general on November 6, 2018. The candidate filing deadline was July 10, 2018.

For more information about the Democratic primary, click here.
For more information about the Republican primary, click here.
For more information about attorney general elections in 2018, click here.

SETTING THE STAGE
Heading into the election, the attorney general of Delaware was Matthew Denn (D), who was first elected in 2014. Denn announced on August 28, 2017, that he would not seek re-election in 2018, leaving the seat open.
In 2018, Delaware was under a Democratic trifecta. It had held this status since 2009, when the Democratic Party gained a majority in the Delaware House of Representatives. Delaware was also a Democratic triplex.
The Democratic candidate won Delaware in each of the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016. The widest margin of victory was Barack Obama's 25 percent margin in 2008, while the narrowest was John Kerry's 7.6 percent margin in 2004.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for Attorney General of Delaware

Kathy Jennings defeated Bernard Pepukayi in the general election for Attorney General of Delaware on November 6, 2018.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Kathy Jennings (D)	61.3	218,351
	Bernard Pepukayi (R)	38.7	137,730

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 356,081
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Attorney General of Delaware

Kathy Jennings defeated LaKresha Roberts, Chris Johnson, and Tim Mullaney in the Democratic primary for Attorney General of Delaware on September 6, 2018.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Kathy Jennings	56.6	46,038
	LaKresha Roberts	21.6	17,584
	Chris Johnson	15.0	12,195
	Tim Mullaney	6.8	5,513

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 81,330
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Attorney General of Delaware

Bernard Pepukayi advanced from the Republican primary for Attorney General of Delaware on September 6, 2018.

		Candidate
✔		Bernard Pepukayi

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Tom Neuberger (R)
Peggy Marshall Thomas (R)

State overview

Partisan control

This section details the partisan control of federal and state positions in Delaware heading into the 2018 elections.

Congressional delegation

Following the 2016 elections, Democrats held both U.S. Senate seats in Delaware.
Democrats held the only U.S. House seat in Delaware.

State executives

As of September 2018, Democrats held 5 of 12 state executive positions, Republicans held two, and the remaining positions were officially nonpartisan.
The governor of Delaware was Democrat John Carney Jr. The state held elections for governor and lieutenant governor on November 3, 2020.

State legislature

Democrats controlled both chambers of the Delaware General Assembly. They had a 25-16 majority in the state House and a 11-10 majority in the state Senate.

Trifecta status

Delaware was a Democratic trifecta, meaning that the Democratic Party controlled the office of the governor, the state House, and the state Senate.

2018 elections

See also: Delaware elections, 2018

Delaware held elections for the following positions in 2018:

Demographics

Demographic data for Delaware
	Delaware	U.S.
Total population:	944,076	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	1,949	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	69.4%	73.6%
Black/African American:	21.6%	12.6%
Asian:	3.6%	5.1%
Native American:	0.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.7%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	8.7%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	88.4%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	30%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$60,509	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	13.9%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Delaware. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

As of July 2016, Delaware's three largest cities were Wilmington (pop. est. 71,106), Dover (pop. est. 37,538), and Newark (pop. est. 33,858).^[1]^[2]

State election history

This section provides an overview of federal and state elections in Delaware from 2000 to 2016. All data comes from the Delaware State Department of Elections.

Historical elections

Presidential elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the presidential election in Delaware every year from 2000 to 2016.

Election results (President of the United States), Delaware 2000-2016
Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Hillary Clinton	53.4%	Donald Trump	41.9%	11.5%
2012	Barack Obama	58.6%	Mitt Romney	40.0%	18.6%
2008	Barack Obama	61.9%	John McCain	36.9%	25.0%
2004	John Kerry	53.4%	George W. Bush	45.7%	7.7%
2000	Al Gore	54.9%	George W. Bush	41.9%	13.0%

U.S. Senate elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of U.S. Senate races in Delaware from 2000 to 2016. Every state has two Senate seats, and each seat goes up for election every six years. The terms of the seats are staggered so that roughly one-third of the seats are up every two years.

Election results (U.S. Senator), Delaware 2000-2016
Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2014	Chris Coons	55.8%	Kevin Wade	42.2%	13.6%
2012	Thomas Carper	66.4%	Kevin Wade	29.0%	37.4%
2010	Chris Coons	56.6%	Christine O'Donnell	40.0%	16.6%
2008	Joe Biden	64.7%	Christine O'Donnell	35.3%	29.4%
2006	Tom Carper	67.1%	Jan Ting	27.4%	39.7%
2002	Joe Biden	58.2%	Raymond Clatworthy	40.8%	17.4%
2000	Tom Carper	55.5%	William Roth	43.7%	11.8%

Gubernatorial elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the four gubernatorial elections held between 2000 and 2016. Gubernatorial elections are held every four years in Delaware.

Election results (Governor), Delaware 2000-2016
Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	John Carney	58.3%	Colin Bonini	39.2%	19.9%
2012	Jack Markell	69.3%	Jeff Cragg	28.6%	40.7%
2008	Jack Markell	67.5%	William Swain Lee	32.0%	35.5%
2004	Ruth Ann Minner	50.9%	William Swain Lee	45.8%	5.1%
2000	Ruth Ann Minner	59.2%	John Burris	39.7%	19.5%

Congressional delegation, 2000-2016

This chart shows the number of Democrats and Republicans who were elected to represent Delaware in the U.S. House from 2000 to 2016. Elections for U.S. House seats are held every two years.

Congressional delegation, Delaware 2000-2016
Year	Republicans	Republicans (%)	Democrats	Democrats (%)	Balance of power
2016	1	100%	0	0%	D+1
2014	1	100%	0	0%	D+1
2012	1	100%	0	0%	D+1
2010	1	100%	0	0%	D+1
2008	1	100%	0	0%	R+1
2006	1	100%	0	0%	R+1
2004	1	100%	0	0%	R+1
2002	1	100%	0	0%	R+1
2000	1	100%	0	0%	R+1

Trifectas, 1992-2017

A state government trifecta occurs when one party controls both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office.

Delaware Party Control: 1992-2024
Sixteen 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
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
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
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

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

One of three Delaware counties—33.33 percent—is a Pivot County. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008
County	Trump margin of victory in 2016	Obama margin of victory in 2012	Obama margin of victory in 2008
Kent County, Delaware	4.87%	4.94%	9.81%

In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton (D) won Delaware with 53.4 percent of the vote. Donald Trump (R) received 41.9 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, Delaware voted Republican 53.33 percent of the time and Democratic 46.67 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, Delaware voted Democratic all five times.

Presidential results by legislative district

The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state House districts in Delaware. Click [show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. The "Party Control" column notes which party held that seat heading into the 2018 general election. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled by Daily Kos.^[3]^[4]

In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won 28 out of 41 state House districts in Delaware with an average margin of victory of 35.2 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won 27 out of 41 state House districts in Delaware with an average margin of victory of 31.7 points. Clinton won three districts controlled by Republicans heading into the 2018 elections.

In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 13 out of 41 state House districts in Delaware with an average margin of victory of 12.8 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 14 out of 41 state House districts in Delaware with an average margin of victory of 22.3 points. Trump won one district controlled by a Democrat heading into the 2018 elections.

2016 presidential results by state House district
District	Obama	Romney	2012 Margin	Clinton	Trump	2016 Margin	Party Control
1	90.63%	8.63%	D+82	87.34%	9.62%	D+77.7	D
2	92.21%	7.06%	D+85.1	88.72%	8.32%	D+80.4	D
3	88.46%	10.52%	D+77.9	84.86%	12.35%	D+72.5	D
4	59.01%	39.33%	D+19.7	62.94%	31.39%	D+31.6	D
5	83.11%	15.90%	D+67.2	78.51%	18.23%	D+60.3	D
6	60.77%	37.50%	D+23.3	60.56%	34.04%	D+26.5	D
7	64.21%	34.08%	D+30.1	61.76%	32.89%	D+28.9	D
8	60.00%	38.72%	D+21.3	54.75%	40.34%	D+14.4	D
9	51.62%	47.03%	D+4.6	46.45%	48.21%	R+1.8	R
10	60.49%	37.91%	D+22.6	58.39%	36.45%	D+21.9	D
11	44.38%	53.62%	R+9.2	34.07%	60.29%	R+26.2	R
12	48.50%	50.01%	R+1.5	53.04%	41.44%	D+11.6	R
13	69.88%	28.51%	D+41.4	59.74%	34.95%	D+24.8	D
14	50.16%	48.86%	D+1.3	50.08%	46.81%	D+3.3	D
15	66.88%	31.72%	D+35.2	61.89%	33.61%	D+28.3	D
16	86.44%	12.71%	D+73.7	79.69%	17.08%	D+62.6	D
17	75.35%	23.44%	D+51.9	67.45%	28.15%	D+39.3	D
18	73.77%	24.71%	D+49.1	66.80%	28.17%	D+38.6	D
19	63.86%	34.20%	D+29.7	54.36%	40.20%	D+14.2	D
20	46.68%	52.12%	R+5.4	42.84%	52.98%	R+10.1	R
21	58.87%	39.52%	D+19.3	53.84%	40.20%	D+13.6	R
22	50.65%	47.97%	D+2.7	51.53%	43.26%	D+8.3	R
23	59.53%	38.25%	D+21.3	59.93%	33.33%	D+26.6	D
24	67.87%	30.39%	D+37.5	59.76%	34.09%	D+25.7	D
25	63.13%	34.55%	D+28.6	59.44%	34.18%	D+25.3	D
26	73.18%	25.66%	D+47.5	67.83%	27.17%	D+40.7	D
27	61.16%	37.36%	D+23.8	56.68%	38.07%	D+18.6	D
28	61.47%	37.05%	D+24.4	52.86%	42.09%	D+10.8	D
29	52.73%	46.05%	D+6.7	47.38%	48.10%	R+0.7	D
30	38.81%	59.30%	R+20.5	28.57%	66.67%	R+38.1	R
31	63.67%	35.03%	D+28.6	61.48%	32.66%	D+28.8	D
32	63.41%	35.03%	D+28.4	57.28%	36.72%	D+20.6	D
33	45.67%	53.08%	R+7.4	37.57%	57.12%	R+19.5	R
34	46.85%	51.75%	R+4.9	42.61%	51.87%	R+9.3	R
35	39.90%	58.62%	R+18.7	32.25%	64.32%	R+32.1	R
36	43.06%	55.73%	R+12.7	36.10%	59.53%	R+23.4	R
37	46.44%	52.42%	R+6	37.67%	59.00%	R+21.3	R
38	36.85%	62.07%	R+25.2	32.78%	64.18%	R+31.4	R
39	41.34%	57.27%	R+15.9	34.48%	61.33%	R+26.9	R
40	37.36%	61.31%	R+23.9	26.76%	69.12%	R+42.4	R
41	42.12%	56.63%	R+14.5	33.75%	62.59%	R+28.8	R
Total	58.61%	39.98%	D+18.6	53.35%	41.92%	D+11.4	-
Source: Daily Kos

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Delaware attorney general election 2018. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Delaware Attorney General election, 2018 - Google News

External links

Suggest a link

Attorney General of Delaware official website

Footnotes

[1] Delaware Demographics, "Delaware Cities by Population," accessed December 11, 2017

[2] U.S. Census Bureau, "Quickfacts Delaware," accessed December 11, 2017

[3] Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts," July 9, 2013

[4] Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2016 presidential results for congressional and legislative districts," February 6, 2017

[1]

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