United States presidential election in Delaware, 2008
Encyclopedia
The 2008 United States presidential election in Delaware took place on November 4, 2008 throughout all 50 states and D.C., which was part of the 2008 United States presidential election
. Voters chose 3 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President
and Vice President
.
Delaware
was won by Democrat nominee Barack Obama
with 25.0% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. His running mate, Joe Biden
, a longtime U.S. Senator from Delaware, also helped assure a definite victory. Only one county went for John McCain, the more rural area of Sussex County
by a margin of approximately 7,000 votes or 8.58%.
campaigned here 6 times.
in 1988
. Since then, the state has consistently delivered to the Democrats at the presidential level. Barack Obama was already favored to win Delaware going into the election but when he selected Delaware native Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate, the state was totally secured for the Democrats. With Biden on the ticket, Democrats had a very good showing in Delaware in 2008.
Along with Barack Obama carrying the state's 3 electoral votes, Democrats held onto the Governor's Mansion that was vacated by Ruth Ann Minner
due to term limits as Jack Markell was elected with 67.52% of the vote over Republican Bill Lee. At the state level, Democrats picked up seven seats in the Delaware House of Representatives
and gained control of the chamber while picking up two seats in the Delaware Senate
.
.
The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 15, 2008 to cast their votes for President and Vice President. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.
The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 3 were pledged to Barack Obama
and Joe Biden
:
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
. Voters chose 3 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
and Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
.
Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
was won by Democrat nominee Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
with 25.0% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. His running mate, Joe Biden
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
, a longtime U.S. Senator from Delaware, also helped assure a definite victory. Only one county went for John McCain, the more rural area of Sussex County
Sussex County, Delaware
Sussex County is a county located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Delaware. As of 2010 the population was 197,145, an increase of 25.9% over the previous decade. The county seat is Georgetown. The Seaford Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Sussex County.Sussex County is...
by a margin of approximately 7,000 votes or 8.58%.
Predictions
There were 17 news organizations who made state by state predictions of the election. Here are there last predictions before election day:- D.C. Political Report: Democrat
- Cook Political ReportCook Political ReportThe Cook Political Report is an independent, non-partisan online newsletter that analyzes elections and campaigns for the United States House of Representatives, the United States Senate, Governor's offices and the American Presidency. The Cook Political Report is led by a staff of five...
: Solid Democrat - Takeaway: Solid Obama
- Election Projection: Solid Obama
- Electoral-vote.comElectoral-vote.comElectoral-Vote.com is the website of computer scientist Andrew S. Tanenbaum. The site's primary content is poll analysis to project the outcome of U.S. elections. The site also includes commentary on related news stories. Well known for its color-coded electoral map of the United States, the...
: Strong Democrat - Washington Post: Solid Obama
- PoliticoPolitico (newspaper)The Politico is an American political journalism organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio. Its coverage of Washington, D.C., includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, media and the Presidency...
: Solid Obama - Real Clear Politics: Solid Obama
- FiveThirtyEight.comFiveThirtyEight.comFiveThirtyEight is a polling aggregation website with a blog created by Nate Silver. Sometimes colloquially referred to as 538 dot com or just 538, the website takes its name from the number of electors in the United States electoral college...
: Solid Obama - CQ Politics: Safe Democrat
- New York Times: Solid Democrat
- CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
: Safe Democrat - NPRNPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
: Solid Obama - MSNBCMSNBCMSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
: Solid Obama - Fox News: Democrat
- Associated PressAssociated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
: Democrat - Rasmussen ReportsRasmussen ReportsRasmussen Reports is an American media company that publishes and distributes information based on public opinion polling. Founded by pollster Scott Rasmussen in 2003, the company updates daily indexes including the President's job approval rating, and provides public opinion data, analysis, and...
: Safe Democrat
Polling
Obama won every single pre-election poll taken in the state, and each one by a double digit margin of victory. He won the last poll by a 30 point margin.Advertising and visits
No advertising was spent by either campaign. Delaware native Joe BidenJoe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
campaigned here 6 times.
Analysis
Delaware, a blue state, had not voted for a Republican presidential nominee for two decades going into Election 2008. The last Republican to win Delaware was George H. W. BushGeorge H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
in 1988
United States presidential election, 1988
The United States presidential election of 1988 featured no incumbent president, as President Ronald Reagan was unable to seek re-election after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. Reagan's Vice President, George H. W. Bush, won the Republican nomination, while the...
. Since then, the state has consistently delivered to the Democrats at the presidential level. Barack Obama was already favored to win Delaware going into the election but when he selected Delaware native Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate, the state was totally secured for the Democrats. With Biden on the ticket, Democrats had a very good showing in Delaware in 2008.
Along with Barack Obama carrying the state's 3 electoral votes, Democrats held onto the Governor's Mansion that was vacated by Ruth Ann Minner
Ruth Ann Minner
Ruth Ann Minner is an American politician and businesswoman from Milford, in Kent County, Delaware. She is a member of the Democratic Party who served in the Delaware General Assembly, as the 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Delaware and two terms as the first female Governor of Delaware.-Early life...
due to term limits as Jack Markell was elected with 67.52% of the vote over Republican Bill Lee. At the state level, Democrats picked up seven seats in the Delaware House of Representatives
Delaware House of Representatives
The Delaware House of Representatives is the lower house of the Delaware General Assembly; the state legislature of the U.S. State of Delaware. It is composed of 41 Representatives from an equal amount of constituencies, each of whom is elected to a two year term. The Delaware General Assembly...
and gained control of the chamber while picking up two seats in the Delaware Senate
Delaware Senate
The Delaware Senate is the upper house of the Delaware General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. State of Delaware. It is composed of 21 Senators, each of whom is elected to a four-year term, except when reapportionment occurs, at which time Senators may be elected to a two-year term....
.
Results
| United States presidential election in Delaware, 2008 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Running mate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic Democratic Party (United States) The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous... |
Barack Obama Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in... |
Joe Biden Joe Biden Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama... |
255,459 | 61.94% | 3 | |
| Republican Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S... |
John McCain John McCain John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election.... |
Sarah Palin Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was... |
152,374 | 36.92% | 0 | |
| Independent Independent Party of Delaware The Independent Party of Delaware is a political party in the State of Delaware, United States.In 2000 the party ran Floyd Mcdowell Sr. for governor. He received 3,271 votes, making 1.1% of the total vote . In 2002 Maurice Barros, running for U.S. Senate, received 996 votes, for 0.4% of the total... |
Ralph Nader Ralph Nader Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government.... |
Matt Gonzalez Matt Gonzalez Matthew Edward Gonzalez is an American politician, lawyer, and activist prominent in San Francisco politics. He currently serves as chief attorney in the San Francisco Public Defender's office.... |
2,401 | 0.58% | 0 | |
| Libertarian Libertarian Party (United States) The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration... |
Bob Barr Bob Barr Robert Laurence "Bob" Barr, Jr. is a former federal prosecutorand a former member of the United States House of Representatives. He represented Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Republican from 1995 to 2003. Barr attained national prominence as one of the leaders of the impeachment of... |
Wayne Allyn Root Wayne Allyn Root Wayne Allyn Root is an American politician, entrepreneur, television and radio personality, author and political commentator. He was the 2008 Libertarian Party vice-presidential nominee. In June 2009 Richard Winger wrote he was the front runner for the 2012 Libertarian Presidential nomination... |
1,109 | 0.27% | 0 | |
| Constitution Constitution Party (United States) The Constitution Party is a paleoconservative political party in the United States. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party by Howard Philips in 1991. Phillips was the party's candidate in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elections... |
Chuck Baldwin Chuck Baldwin Charles Obadiah "Chuck" Baldwin is an American politician and founder-pastor of Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. He was the presidential nominee of the Constitution Party for the 2008 U.S. presidential election and had previously been its nominee for U.S. vice president in 2004... |
Darrell Castle Darrell Castle Darrell Castle is an American political figure, activist and attorney from Memphis, Tennessee, and was the vice presidential candidate of the Constitution Party in the 2008 United States presidential election.-Early life and education:... |
626 | 0.15% | 0 | |
| Green Green Party (United States) The Green Party of the United States is a nationally recognized political party which officially formed in 1991. It is a voluntary association of state green parties. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by other state parties... |
Cynthia McKinney Cynthia McKinney Cynthia Ann McKinney is a former US Congresswoman and a member of the Green Party since 2007. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served six terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives. In 2008, the Green Party nominated McKinney for President of the United States... |
Rosa Clemente Rosa Clemente Rosa Alicia Clemente is a United States community organizer, independent journalist and hip-hop activist. She was the vice presidential running mate of 2008 Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election.Clemente was born and raised in South Bronx, New... |
385 | 0.09% | 0 | |
| Socialist Workers Socialist Workers Party (United States) The Socialist Workers Party is a far-left political organization in the United States. The group places a priority on "solidarity work" to aid strikes and is strongly supportive of Cuba... |
Róger Calero Róger Calero Róger Calero is a Nicaraguan American journalist and one of the leaders of the Socialist Workers Party. He was SWP candidate for President of the United States in 2004 and 2008, and for the United States Senate in New York in 2006.... |
Alyson Kennedy Alyson Kennedy Alyson Kennedy is an American politician, a member of the Socialist Workers Party and was the party's candidate for vice president in the 2008 United States presidential election. The ticket campaigned for young voters especially... |
58 | 0.01% | 0 | |
| Totals | 412,398 | 100.00% | 3 | |||
| Voter turnout | 68.00% | |||||
By county
| County | Obama% | Obama# | McCain% | McCain# | Others% | Others# |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Castle New Castle County, Delaware New Castle County is the northernmost of the three counties of the U.S. state of Delaware. As of 2010 its population was 538,479, an increase of 7.6% over the previous decade. The county seat is Wilmington. The center of population of Delaware is located in New Castle County, in the town of... |
69.7% | 178,768 | 29.1% | 74,608 | 1.2% | 3,041 |
| Kent Kent County, Delaware Kent County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is coextensive with the Dover, Delaware, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 the population was 162,310, a 28.1% increase over the previous decade. The county seat is Dover, the state capital... |
54.4% | 36,392 | 44.6% | 29,827 | 1.1% | 706 |
| Sussex Sussex County, Delaware Sussex County is a county located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Delaware. As of 2010 the population was 197,145, an increase of 25.9% over the previous decade. The county seat is Georgetown. The Seaford Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Sussex County.Sussex County is... |
45.2% | 40,299 | 53.8% | 47,939 | 0.9% | 832 |
By congressional district
Due to the state's low population, only one congressional district is allocated. This district, called the At-Large district, because it covers the entire state, and thus is equivalent to the statewide election results.| District | McCain | Obama | Representative |
|---|---|---|---|
| At-large Delaware's At-large congressional district Delaware's At-large congressional district is a congressional district that includes the entire U.S. state of Delaware.It is currently represented by Democrat John C. Carney, Jr., the former Lieutenant Governor of Delaware.-Voting:-History:... |
36.9% | 61.9% | Michael N. Castle Michael N. Castle Michael "Mike" Newbold Castle is a former Governor and former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 until 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.... |
Electors
Technically the voters of Delaware cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Delaware is allocated 3 electors because it has 1 congressional district and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 3 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 3 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for President and Vice President. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless electorFaithless elector
In United States presidential elections, a faithless elector is a member of the Electoral College who does not vote for the candidate they have pledged to vote for...
.
The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 15, 2008 to cast their votes for President and Vice President. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.
The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 3 were pledged to Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
and Joe Biden
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
:
- James JohnsonJames Johnson-Artists, authors, and musicians:*James B. Johnson , author of science fiction novels*James Johnson , English artist*James Johnson , late 18th-century Scottish musicologist*James P...
- Ted KaufmanTed KaufmanEdward E. "Ted" Kaufman is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Delaware from 2009 to 2010. Since 2010, he has chaired the Congressional Oversight Panel in the United States federal government; he is the second person to hold that post, succeeding inaugural holder...
- Harriet Smith WindsorHarriet Smith WindsorHarriet Smith Windsor was the Delaware Secretary of State from 2001 through 2009. Windsor is a Democrat and currently services as the Vice Chair of the Delaware Democratic Party. In 2008 Windsor was an elector for Barack Obama.-External links:...