Delaware Senate

2020 Election Update

Heading into the 2020 election, Democrats controlled the Delaware Senate 12 to 9. Democrats flipped two seats (SDs 5 and 7) for a net gain of two seats. Democrats now control the chamber 14 to 7.

The below table shows 2020 and 2018 election results for the Delaware Senate. The LDI scores are for the 2020 cycle. EveryDistrict will release new scores and district rankings after the redistricting process.

2018 Election Update

After the 2016 election, the Delaware State Senate was a 10-10 tie. In the 2016 election, Bethany Hall-Long was elected Lieutenant Governor, creating a vacancy in SD 10. In a February 2017 special election, Democrats maintained control of the seat, and the chamber, 11-10. In the 2018 election, Democrats picked up one seat to grow their majority to 12-9.

Democrats flipped SD 12.

Understanding the Map

EveryDistrict’s Legislative District Index (LDI) is the gold standard of state legislative competitiveness. Our LDI ranks state legislative districts on a scale from 100 to -100, using statewide elections data. Districts with a score of 100 would vote for statewide Democratic candidates by an average of 100 points (with the Democratic candidate receiving 100% of the vote); districts with a score of -100 would vote for statewide Republican candidates by an average of 100 points (with the Republican candidate receiving 100% of the vote). For a more realistic example, a district with a score of 10 would vote for statewide Democratic candidates by an average of 10 points (meaning we would expect the Democratic state legislative candidate to win with 55% of the vote compared to the Republican winning 45% of the vote).

After the 2018 election, EveryDistrict reviewed and enhanced our LDI system, improving the accuracy of the metric with new methodologies and the most recent electoral data.

For more information about EveryDistrict’s LDI, please click here.