WASHINGTON (AP) — Delaware's Democratic U.S. senator, U.S. representative, and state attorney general will appear before voters in a state primary on Tuesday as they seek reelection. Voters will also select nominees for the state Legislature and for an open seat for state treasurer.
The primaries will prepare for the November general election, where Republicans aim to challenge the Democratic dominance in Delaware's statewide offices during a midterm election cycle that typically affects the president's party. This is the last state primary scheduled before November.
In the U.S. Senate race, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons is running for a third full term against three primary opponents: University of Delaware history professor Jeff Appelhans, naval architect Mary Louve, and former business executive Eric Hansen, who was the Republican U.S. Senate nominee in 2024 but is now running as a Democrat under the name "E. No-Trump Hansen."
Coons has reported raising approximately $6.9 million for his campaign, while Appelhans has raised about $1,500. Neither Hansen nor Louve has filed campaign fundraising reports for this cycle.
For the Republican nomination, former state Sen. Michael Katz and U.S. Army Reserves Col. John Shulli are competing, with Katz raising about $159,000 and Shulli approximately $118,000.
Democratic Rep. Sarah McBride is unopposed in her primary as she seeks a second term as Delaware's sole representative in the U.S. House. Republicans Joseph Arminio, Earl Cooper, and John Whalen are competing for the chance to face her in November.
State Attorney General Kathy Jennings faces primary challenges from attorney Dwayne Bensing and Patty Rickman, an advocate for victims of domestic violence. Republican David Graham is unopposed for his party's nomination.
In the race for state treasurer, incumbent Democrat Colleen Davis is not seeking a third term, leading to the only open seat for statewide office this year. Investment manager Ted Lauzen, business owner Mike Miller, and economist Michael Smith are competing for the Democratic nomination, while former state Rep. Michael Ramone is unopposed for the Republican nomination.
About half of Delaware's 21 state Senate seats and all 41 state House seats are up for election in 2026. Democrats hold approximately 2-to-1 majorities in both chambers.
Delaware has shifted significantly Democratic since the 1990s, with Republicans not winning the governorship since 1988, a U.S. Senate seat since 1994, or the U.S. House seat since 2008.
New Castle County, which includes Wilmington and Newark, is the most populous of Delaware's three counties and is significant in statewide contests.
The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, attorney general, treasurer, state Senate, and state House.
Only voters registered with a political party may participate in that party's primary. As of September 1, there were about 808,000 registered voters in Delaware, including approximately 331,000 registered Democrats and about 199,000 registered Republicans.
In the 2024 state primaries for governor, about 86,000 Democratic primary votes and about 37,000 Republican primary votes were cast. Approximately 26% of Democratic primary voters and about 23% of Republican primary voters voted early in-person or by mail.
As of Friday, about 30,800 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday's election, including about 22,200 from Democrats and about 8,500 from Republicans.
All three Delaware counties release nearly all of their results from early in-person and mail voting in their first updates of the night, before releasing results from in-person Election Day voting.
In the 2024 state primary election, the AP first reported results at 8:22 p.m. ET, 22 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 11:30 p.m. ET with 100% of total votes counted.
The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it is determined that there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory, while clarifying that it has not yet declared a winner.
Automatic recounts are triggered in statewide primaries if the vote margin is less than 1,000 votes. For other offices, automatic recounts are triggered if the margin is less than 1,000 votes or less than 0.5% of the total vote, whichever is less. The AP may declare a winner in a race subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.
As of Tuesday, there will be 49 days until the 2026 midterm elections.