2016 Delaware gubernatorial election

For related races, see 2016 United States gubernatorial elections.

The 2016 Delaware gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2016, to elect the governor of Delaware, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

2016 Delaware gubernatorial election

← 2012 November 8, 2016 2020 →

Nominee John Carney Colin Bonini Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 248,404 166,852 Percentage 58.34% 39.18%

County results Precinct results Carney:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Bonini:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      No votes

Governor before election Jack Markell Democratic Elected Governor John Carney Democratic

Incumbent Democratic governor Jack Markell was term-limited and could not run for re-election to a third term in office. Democratic congressman John Carney defeated Republican state senator Colin Bonini in a landslide. Despite his loss, Bonini flipped Sussex County back to the Republicans for the first time in a gubernatorial election since 2004.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• John Carney, U.S. representative, former lieutenant governor of Delaware and candidate for governor in 2008^[1]

Deceased

• Beau Biden, former Delaware Attorney General and son of Delaware senator, vice president, and future president Joe Biden^[2] (died May 30, 2015)

Withdrew

• Kevin Tinsley^[3]

Declined

• Matthew Denn, Delaware Attorney General and former lieutenant governor of Delaware^[4][5][6]
• Thomas P. Gordon, county executive of New Castle County^[7]
• John Kowalko, state representative^[8]
• Peter Schwartzkopf, Speaker of the Delaware House of Representatives^[8]
• Bryan Townsend, state senator (running for Delaware's at-large seat in Congress)^[8]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	John Carney	Other	Undecided
Fairleigh Dickinson/Delaware News Journal[9]	July 20–24, 2016	344	± 5.3%	67%	9%	23%

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Colin Bonini, state senator and nominee for State Treasurer in 2010^[7]

Eliminated in primary

• Lacey Lafferty, retired state trooper^[10]

Declined

• Greg Lavelle, state senator and Minority Whip of the Delaware Senate^[4][10]
• Alan Levin, director of the Delaware Economic Development Office and former president and CEO of Happy Harry's^[4]
• Michael Ramone, state representative^[11]
• Daniel Short, Minority Leader of the Delaware House of Representatives^[8]
• Ken Simpler, State Treasurer of Delaware^[4][7][12]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Colin Bonini	Lacey Lafferty	Other	Undecided
Fairleigh Dickinson/Delaware News Journal[9]	July 20–24, 2016	224	± 6.6%	29%	22%	3%	42%

Results

Results by county:

  Bonini—70–80%

  Bonini—60–70%

Republican primary results^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Colin Bonini	21,150	69.88
	Republican	Lacey Lafferty	9,115	30.12
Total votes			30,265	100.00

Libertarian Party

Candidates

Declared

• Sean Louis Goward^[14]

General election

Debates

• Complete video of debate, October 19, 2016 - C-SPAN

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[15]	Safe D	August 12, 2016
Daily Kos[16]	Safe D	November 8, 2016
Rothenberg Political Report[17]	Safe D	November 3, 2016
Sabato's Crystal Ball[18]	Safe D	November 7, 2016
Real Clear Politics[19]	Safe D	November 1, 2016
Governing[20]	Safe D	October 27, 2016

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	John Carney (D)	Colin Bonini (R)	Other	Undecided
SurveyMonkey[21]	November 1–7, 2016	367	± 4.6%	56%	40%	—	4%
SurveyMonkey[22]	October 31–November 6, 2016	383	± 4.6%	54%	42%	—	4%
SurveyMonkey[23]	October 28–November 3, 2016	405	± 4.6%	56%	40%	—	4%
SurveyMonkey[24]	October 27–November 2, 2016	397	± 4.6%	56%	39%	—	5%
SurveyMonkey[25]	October 26–November 1, 2016	413	± 4.6%	58%	37%	—	5%
SurveyMonkey[26]	October 25–31, 2016	458	± 4.6%	60%	36%	—	4%
University of Delaware[27]	September 16–28, 2016	900	± 3.8%	57%	25%	7%	11%

Results

Delaware gubernatorial election, 2016^[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Carney	248,404	58.34%	−10.99%
	Republican	Colin Bonini	166,852	39.18%	+10.59%
	Green	Andrew Groff	5,951	1.39%	+0.24%
	Libertarian	Sean Louis Goward	4,577	1.09%	+0.17%
Total votes			425,784	100.00%	N/A
	Democratic hold

By county

By county
County John Carney Democratic Colin Bonini Republican All Others # % # % # % Kent 35,955 49.68 34,777 48.05 1,646 2.27 New Castle 165,973 66.21 77,839 31.05 6,879 2.75 Sussex 46,476 45.24 54,236 52.79 2,031 1.97 Totals 248,404 58.34 166,852 39.18 10,556 2.48 Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Sussex (largest city: Seaford)