2024 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware explained

Election Name:	2024 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware's at-large district
Country:	Delaware
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	2022 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware
Previous Year:	2022
Election Date:	November 5, 2024
Next Election:	2026 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware
Next Year:	2026
Image1:	Sarah McBride portrait photograph (cropped 2).jpg
Nominee1:	Sarah McBride
Party1:	Democratic Party (United States)
Popular Vote1:	287,830
Percentage1:	57.9%
Nominee2:	John Whalen
Party2:	Republican Party (United States)
Popular Vote2:	209,606
Percentage2:	42.1%
Map Size:	210px
U.S. Representative
Before Election:	Lisa Blunt Rochester
Before Party:	Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:	Sarah McBride
After Party:	Democratic Party (United States)

The 2024 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware was held on November 5, 2024, to elect a member of the United States House of Representatives to represent the state of Delaware from its . The election coincided with the 2024 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the U.S. House, elections to the United States Senate, and various other state and local elections.

Incumbent Democratic representative Lisa Blunt Rochester was first elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2022 with 55.5% of the vote.^[1] Blunt Rochester declined to seek re-election, instead running for the U.S. Senate.^[2] The primary election took place on September 10, 2024. McBride won the primary election on September 10, 2024, and the general election on November 5, and will be the first openly transgender member of Congress.^[3]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Sarah McBride, state senator^[4]

Eliminated in primary

• Earl Cooper, traffic control business owner^[5]
• Elias Weir, accounts payable supervisor and perennial candidate

Withdrew

• Colleen Davis, Delaware State Treasurer^[6] (endorsed McBride)^[7]
• Eugene Young, director of the Delaware State Housing Authority and candidate for mayor of Wilmington in 2016^[8]

Declined

• Lisa Blunt Rochester, incumbent U.S. Representative (ran for U.S. Senate, endorsed McBride)^[2]
• Elizabeth Lockman, state senator (endorsed McBride)^[9]
• Bryan Townsend, Majority Leader of the Delaware Senate and candidate for this seat in 2016 (endorsed McBride)^[9]

Fundraising

Italics indicate a withdrawn candidate.

Campaign finance reports as of March 31, 2024
Candidate	Raised	Spent	Cash on hand
	Sarah McBride (D)	$1,867,314	$612,290	$1,255,024
	Colleen Davis (D)	$162,553	$150,465	$12,088
	Eugene Young (D)	$401,188	$158,019	$243,169
Source: Federal Election Commission^[10]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Colleen Davis	Sarah McBride	Eugene Young	Other	Undecided
Slingshot Strategies	October 7–14, 2023	600 (RV)	± 3.9%	6%		22%	4%	—		68%
Change Research	September 7–12, 2023	531 (LV)	—	12%		44%	23%	2%	18%

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• John Whalen, retired building contractor

Eliminated in primary

• Donyale Hall, general contractor and nominee for Lieutenant Governor in 2020^[11]

Withdrew

• Joseph Arminio, physician^[12]

Results

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
align=left	The Cook Political Report^[13]		July 28, 2023
align=left	Inside Elections^[14]		July 28, 2023
align=left	Sabato's Crystal Ball^[15]		June 8, 2023
align=left	Elections Daily^[16]		June 8, 2023
align=left	CNalysis^[17]		November 16, 2023

Results

By county

County	Sarah McBride Democratic		John Whalen Republican		Margin		Total votes
	data-sort-type="number"		data-sort-type="number"	%	data-sort-type="number"			data-sort-type="number"	%	data-sort-type="number"		data-sort-type="number"	%
	Kent		44,499		51.88		41,267		48.12		3,232		3.76		85,766
	New Castle		177,730		66.45		89,728		33.55		88,002		32.90		267,458
	Sussex		65,601		45.49		78,611		54.51		-13,010		-9.02		144,212
Totals	287,830	57.86	209,606	42.14	78,224	15.72	497,436

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Kent (largest city: Dover)

Notes

Partisan clients

External links

Official campaign sites

• Sarah McBride (D) for Congress
• John Whalen (R) for Congress

Notes and References

1. News: Delaware First Congressional District Election Results . The New York Times . November 8, 2022 . 6 May 2023.
2. News: Mutnick . Ally . Otterbein . Holly . June 1, 2023 . Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester to launch run for Delaware Senate seat in June . . June 2, 2023 . June 8, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230608214450/https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/01/lisa-blunt-rochester-delaware-senate-seat-00099778 . live .
3. News: Sarah McBride becomes the first out transgender person elected to Congress. Yurcaba. Jo. November 5, 2024. November 6, 2024. NBCNews.com.
4. Web site: Sarah McBride announces run for US House seat to become first trans member of Congress . 2023-06-26 . . en-US . June 26, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230626130304/https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/2023/06/26/sarah-mcbride-delaware-senator-2024-elections-us-house/70349505007/ . live .
5. Web site: 2024 Primary Election Candidate List - Department of Elections - State of Delaware . 2024-07-10 . elections.delaware.gov.
6. Web site: Edelen . Joseph . 2024-02-28 . Delaware Treasurer Colleen Davis drops out of U.S. Congress race . 2024-02-28 . Bay to Bay News . en.
7. News: Blue Delaware . March 4, 2024 . Davis Endorses McBride in Congressional Race . March 4, 2024 . March 4, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240304193919/https://bluedelaware.com/2024/03/04/davis-endorses-mcbride-in-congressional-race/ . live .
8. News: Carl . Chris . Eugene Young withdraws from US House race . June 12, 2024 . . June 12, 2024 . en.
9. News: Daily Kos Elections Live Digest: 6/26 . . 26 June 2023 . 26 June 2023 . Singer . Jeff . However, while insiders previously speculated that two state senators, Majority Leader Bryan Townsend and Majority Whip Elizabeth Lockman, could run against McBride, each instead endorsed their colleague on Monday..
10. Web site: 2024 Election United States House - Delaware AL . fec.gov . . October 17, 2023.
11. Web site: 2023-10-12 . EXCLUSIVE: Delaware veteran, businesswoman announces run for Congress . 2023-10-13 . . Petree . Rob . en-US.
12. Web site: 2024 General Election Candidate List - Department of Elections - State of Delaware . 2024-07-10 . elections.delaware.gov . September 11, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240911042409/https://elections.delaware.gov/candidates/candidatelist/genl_fcddt_2024.shtml . live .
13. Web site: 2024 House Race Ratings. Cook Political Report. February 2, 2023. January 26, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190126144928/https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/house-race-ratings. live.
14. Web site: First 2024 House Ratings . Inside Elections . March 10, 2023 . March 22, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210322174630/http://insideelections.com/ratings/house . live .
15. Web site: Initial House Ratings: Battle for Majority Starts as a Toss-up . Sabato's Crystal Ball . February 23, 2023 . May 7, 2023 . February 23, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230223141601/https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/initial-house-ratings-battle-for-majority-starts-as-a-toss-up/ . live .
16. Web site: Election Ratings . 2023-05-05 . Elections Daily . en-US . November 3, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231103130721/https://elections-daily.com/election-ratings/ . live .
17. Web site: 2024 House Forecast. November 20, 2023. November 20, 2023. November 20, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231120025644/https://projects.cnalysis.com/23-24/house. live.