The marquee vote is the Democratic primary for governor, which features two well-known figures – New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer and Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long – and Collin O’Mara, a former secretary of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
Three Republicans – Jerrold A. Price, Mike Ramone and Bobby Williamson – are competing in the GOP primary for governor.
Several positions are drawing multiple candidates because they don’t have incumbents, and that’s triggered by the retirement of U.S. Sen. Tom Carper and Gov. John Carney ending his second term, the most he’s allowed to serve.
The shuffle starts with U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester becoming the only Democrat in the race for Carper’s seat. She faces Republican Eric Hansen and Michael Katz of the Independent Party of Delaware in the general election.
State. Sen. Sarah Bride is the favored candidate for Blunt Rochester’s seat, but she faces several Democrat competitors in the primary. In the November election, the winner faces Republican Joseph Arminio.
Carney chose to run for mayor of Wilmington, facing Velda Jones-Potter. With voter registration in Delaware’s largest city so heavily Democratic, the primary winner is expected to win in November.
Meyer and Hall-Long’s decisions to run for governor leave their old jobs vacant, and they’ve attracted multiple candidates as well.
Who’s who on the primary ballot
Three more statewide races feature primaries.
Three Democrats – Earl Cooper, Sarah McBride and Elias Weir – are running for Delaware’s only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Two Republicans – Donyale Hall and John J. Whalen III – are running for the same seat.
McBride is getting most of the buzz now and, since Delaware is a blue state, is the favorite in the general election
Three Democrats – Sherry Dorsey Walker, Kyle Evans Gay and Debbie Harrington – are running in the primary for lieutenant governor. There’s only one Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, Ruth Briggs King.
Two Democrats are running for insurance commissioner – incumbent Trinidad Navarro and Kayode Abegunde. In the general election, the winner faces Republican Ralph Taylor.
In New Castle County, two Democrats are running for county executive: Karen Hartley-Nagle and Marcus Henry. The winner faces Republican Carter Hill.
Five Democrats are running for president of New Castle County Council: George S. Frankel, Val Gould, Jason Hoover, Monique Johns and Robert A. Williams. The winner faces Republican Melissa S. Brayman.
Key numbers about the primary
“For September’s primary there are nine Republicans and 77 Democrats on the ballot, and both parties have three candidates running for House of Representatives and governor,” the League of Women Voters counted in August, when announcing the release of Vote411, their voter guide.
“Also, there are 12 state representative races, four races and 11 candidates for New Castle County, and the city of Wilmington has seven races with 20 candidates.
“I encourage everyone to learn about the candidates” said Jill Itzkowitz, the league’s Vote411.org coordinator. “It is more important than ever to make an informed choice, and to vote up and down the ballot.”
The number of contested races dropped by one on Thursday, when Branden Fletcher Dominguez withdrew his candidacy in the the third district in the State House, leaving Josue O. Ortega as the only candidate.
Fletcher Dominguez faced questions about his residency in the district, which covers the west side of Wilmington, DelawareOnline reported.
Delaware has 782,495 registered voters, according to the state Department of Elections.
Most can vote on Tuesday: 351,454 registered Democrats and 205,687 registered Republicans.
Another 33,111 people also can vote because they were recently automatically registered at the Division of Motor Vehicles and other agencies. If they don’t vote in the primary, their registration will be changed to “No Party,” joining 170,195 other unaffiliated registered voters.
Delaware lists another 20 or so political parties, and the only other one with more than 10,000 registered voters is the Independent Party of Delaware, with 10,929.
Polling stations are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday for the primary.
Early voting runs 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Sunday at 18 polling stations, and “Voters may vote at any early voting site in their county of residence,” according to a department website.
A of Friday, 24,446 absentee ballots have been sent out for the primary. That compares to 22,108 in 2022 and 107,395 in 2020, when so many people were sheltering in place.
As of Friday morning, according to the elections department, 10,987 absentee ballots had been cast in the primary,
Delaware started zn early voting option in 2022, and 4,284 chose that for the 2022 primary. As of Friday, 13,390 people had voted early.
Those figures are updated daily.
The department’s landing page for the primary features a great section of frequently asked questions.
Primary results will be listed by the state and covered by DelawareLive.com.
