United States House of Representatives election in Delaware, 2010

United States House of Representatives election in Delaware, 2010

2008 ← November 2, 2010 → 2012

Nominee John C. Carney, Jr. Glen Urquhart Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 173,543 125,442 Percentage 56.78% 41.04%

Representative before election Michael Castle Republican Elected Representative John C. Carney, Jr. Democratic

The 2010 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware was held on November 2, 2010 to determine who would represent the state of Delaware in the United States House of Representatives for the 112th United States Congress. Democratic nominee former Lieutenant Governor, John C. Carney, Jr. defeated Republican nominee, Glen Urquhart.

Overview

Further information: Delaware's At-large congressional district

Map of Delaware's at-large congressional district

The state of Delaware is completely contained in a single at-large district. The district has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+7. Since 1993, the district had been represented by Republican Michael Castle.

Castle announced in 2009 he would run for the United States Senate seat held by Ted Kaufman (D) who had been appointed to the seat when his predecessor, Joe Biden (D), resigned to become Vice President. Castle was defeated by Christine O'Donnell in the Delaware Republican Senate primary.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• John C. Carney, Jr., former Lieutenant Governor of Delaware

Results

Carney announced his candidacy on April 15, 2009 and was unopposed in the primary after Scott Spencer, a transportation consultant, dropped out.

Republican primary

Candidates

• Glen Urquhart, businessman
• Michele Rollins, businesswoman
• Rose Izzo

Results

Republican primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Republican	Glen Urquhart	27,343	48.64%
	Republican	Michele Rollins	26,789	47.66%
	Republican	Rose Izzo	2,082	3.70%
Totals			56,214	100.00%

Campaign

According to a September 2010 poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind, "likely voters in Delaware split 45%-40% on whether they prefer[ed] to have the U.S. Congress controlled by the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, suggesting that the First State’s open congressional seat might be hotly contested," yet in the same poll, Carney led Urquhart by 51%-36%. Peter Woolley, the poll director, remarked that “candidates matter, not just parties" and that in Delaware candidates matter "more than in most states."

General election polling

Poll Source	Dates administered	Glen Urquhart (R)	John C. Carney, Jr. (D)
Monmouth University	October 25–27, 2010	44%	51%
Fairleigh Dickinson	October 20–26, 2010	36%	53%
Monmouth University	October 8–11, 2010	44%	53%
Fairleigh Dickinson	September 27-October 3, 2010	36%	51%
University of Delaware	September 16–30, 2010	31%	48%
Wilson Research Strategies	September 27–28, 2010	41%	45%
Grove Insight	September 15–18, 2010	32%	50%
Public Policy Polling	September 11–12, 2010	37%	48%
Public Policy Polling	August 7–8, 2010	30%	48%

General election

Results

Delaware's At-large congressional district election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Democratic	John C. Carney, Jr.	173,543	56.78%
	Republican	Glen Urquhart	125,442	41.04%
	Delaware Independent	Earl R. Lofland	3,704	1.21%
	Libertarian	Brent A. Wangen	1,986	0.65%
	Blue Enigma	Jeffrey Brown	961	0.31%
Totals			305,636	100.00%
	Democratic gain from Republican

External links

• Election Commissioner at the Delaware Secretary of State
  • Official candidate listings
• U.S. Congress candidates for Delaware at Project Vote Smart
• Delaware U.S. House from OurCampaigns.com
• Campaign contributions for U.S. Congressional races in Delaware from OpenSecrets.org
• 2010 Delaware General Election graph of multiple polls from Pollster.com
• House - Delaware from the Cook Political Report
• Delaware House Race from CQ Politics
• Race profile at The New York Times
• Election 2010 at The News Journal