2008 United States Senate election in Delaware

The 2008 United States Senate election in Delaware was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Senator Joe Biden, who was also the Democratic nominee for vice president in the concurrent presidential election, faced Christine O'Donnell in the general election. Biden won re-election to a seventh term with 64.69% of the vote, his best-performing result in his senatorial career, while also being elected vice president.

2008 United States Senate election in Delaware

← 2002 November 4, 2008 2010 (special) →

Nominee Joe Biden Christine O'Donnell Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 257,539 140,595 Percentage 64.69% 35.31%

County results House district results Biden:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% O'Donnell:      50–60%

U.S. senator before election Joe Biden Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Joe Biden Democratic

Biden took his oath of office in the Senate chamber with the rest of his colleagues on January 3, 2009, but resigned his seat on January 15, 2009, and assumed the vice presidency five days later. Long time Biden advisor Ted Kaufman was appointed to fill the vacant seat. A special election was held in 2010 where O'Donnell once again ran unsuccessfully.

This marked the last time Biden won all three counties in a general election, as in his vice presidential and presidential runs, Sussex County would vote for the Republican ticket.

Background

After ending his 2008 presidential bid in January 2008, Biden focused instead on running for a seventh Senate term. He was unopposed within his party.^[1] On August 23, 2008, Democratic Party presidential nominee Barack Obama announced that he had selected Biden to serve as his vice presidential running mate.^[2] Under Delaware law, Biden could run simultaneously for both his Senate seat and for vice president, which he decided to do.^[3]

O'Donnell had previously run in for Delaware's Class One senate seat in 2006. After losing the Republican Primary to Jan C. Ting, she ran in the general election as a write-in candidate. She lost, only receiving less than five percent of the vote.^[4] The statewide party primary elections were held September 9, 2008, both candidates ran unopposed.^[5]

Candidates

Both candidates ran unopposed in the primaries.^[5]

Democratic

• Joe Biden, incumbent and longest serving Senator from Delaware^[5]

Republican

• Christine O'Donnell, media consultant, political analyst and write-in candidate in 2006^[5]

General election

Campaign

Biden largely ignored the election in favor of Obama's presidential run.^[3] O'Donnell tried to make an issue of the dual campaigns, claiming that serving his constituents was not important to him, and criticized his unwillingness to participate in debates and candidate forums. Politico's Daniel Libit writing about O'Donnell said, "nowhere else in America is a challenger wanting her incumbent opponent to campaign harder against her."^[6]

Biden put up very few campaign advertisements,^[6] nevertheless he heavily outspent O'Donnell and her campaign failed to gain traction. Her campaign ended with thousands in debt.^[7][8]

Kristin Murray briefly served as the campaign manager for O'Donnell. Murray claimed she left the campaign willingly because of O'Donnell's financial situation, though O'Donnell claimed she was fired.^[7] During O'Donnell's 2010 campaign, Murray claimed that O'Donnell was misusing her campaign donations.^[9]

Predictions

Various pundits considered the race a safe blue state.^[10]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	Date of Prediction	Ref
The Cook Political Report	Safe D	October 23, 2008	[11]
Congressional Quarterly	Safe D	October 31, 2008	[12]
Rothenberg Political Report	Safe D	November 2, 2008	[13]
Real Clear Politics	Safe D	November 4, 2008	[10]

Results

Minutes after the polls closed the race was called for Biden.^[14] He was re-elected in a landslide victory against O'Donnell.^[15][16] Biden secured his largest margin of victory, improving on his 2002 margin by around 6.5%.^[17]

United States Senate election in Delaware, 2008^[16][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Joe Biden (incumbent)	257,539	64.69%	+6.47%
	Republican	Christine O'Donnell	140,595	35.31%	−5.49%
Majority			116,944	29.38%
Total votes			398,134
	Democratic hold

Results by county

Results by county

County	Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. Democratic		Christine Therese O'Donnell Republican		Total votes cast	Ref(s)
	#	%	#	%
Kent	37,074	56.99%	27,981	43.01%	65,055	[18][19]
New Castle	177,070	71.82%	69,491	28.18%	246,561
Sussex	43,395	50.16%	43,123	49.84%	86,790
Total	257,539	64.69%	140,595	35.31%	398,406

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Kent (largest city: Dover)

Analysis

Main article: 2010 United States Senate special election in Delaware

Biden won all three counties, flipping Kent County from Republican to Democrat.^[18][17] This marked the last time he won all three counties in a general election. In his vice presidential runs in 2008 and 2012, and in his presidential run in 2020, Sussex County would vote for the Republican candidates.^[20][21][22]

Biden's best performance was in New Castle County, where he won around 72 percent of the vote to O'Donnell's 28 percent. O'Donnell's best performance was in Sussex County, where she almost won the county, receiving 49.84% of the vote to Biden's 50.16%, his lowest share of the vote. New Castle County had the highest number of votes cast with 246 thousand, followed by Sussex County with 86 thousand.^[18]

Biden took the oath of office in the Senate chamber with his fellow senator-elects on January 3, 2009,^[23] but resigned his seat on January 15, 2009, and assumed the vice presidency five days later.^[24] Outgoing Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner appointed Ted Kaufman, a Democrat and longtime Biden advisor, to fill the vacant seat pending a 2010 special election. Kaufman stated he had no plans to run in 2010.^[25] O'Donnell once again ran unsuccessfully for the seat, losing to Democrat Chris Coons.^[26]

See also

• 2008 United States Senate elections