Julianne Murray Wins GOP Primary for DE Governor – Results Take Hours to be Tallied
The polls closed at 8pm for the Delaware Primary – a day that saw some incumbents fall and political newcomers win a chance for a run in the General Election in November. The results were very slow to come in – and WGMD learned there was a firewall issue with the numbers getting to the Department of Technology and Information (DTI). By just after midnight all the unofficial numbers were finally tallied. For the first time, Delawareans had the option to vote in person – or to vote by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic. While thousands of vote by mail ballots were requested. The mailed votes and absentee votes were tallied together but neither the vote by mail or machine vote ruled the night. Election officials say over 32% of Delaware’s registered Democrat and Republican voters turned out.
There were two Republican primaries for the Sussex County Council – in Districts 2 and 3. In District 2, Cindy Green got 39% of the vote to beat Lisa Hudson Briggs and Robert Wilson – for the seat that Wilson’s father is leaving. In District 3 the race was heated from day one and ended with challenger Mark Schaeffer narrowly beating incumbent IG Burton by just 43 votes. Neither Green nor Schaeffer have a Democrat challenger, so they will wait until January to be sworn in to office. In District 1, incumbent Mike Vincent is challenged by Democrat Hunter Hastings in November. Clerk of the Peace Jay Jones was unopposed and will serve another term.
One of Delaware’s two US Senate seats is up for election this year and incumbent Senator Chris Coons was challenged by Jessica Scarane. Coons easily won that race with 73% of the Democrat vote. On the GOP side, Lauren Witzke grabbed 57% of the GOP vote from Rehoboth’s James DeMartino. She will face Senator Coons in November – along with challenges from IPoD’s Mark Turley and Libertarian Nadine Frost.
Delaware’s lone US Congressional seat is also up for election and incumbent Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester will face Republican Lee Murphy in November. Murphy received 74% of the GOP vote over Matthew Morris. Rochester and Murphy will also face challenges from independent Catherine Purcell and Libertarian David Rogers.
The race for Governor had both a Democrat and Republican primary. Incumbent John Carney taking 85% of the vote easily held off a challenge from David Williams. For the Republicans – there were six candidates vying for the chance to take on Governor Carney in November. As the numbers came in – the race became a battle between State Senator Colin Bonini and Sussex County Attorney, Julianne Murray. Murray, who won the GOP endorsement during the state convention in July, withstood the challenge and came away with 41% of the Republican vote to Bonini’s 35%. In November, Murray will take on Carney – as well as Libertarian John Machurek and IPoD’s Kathy Dematteis.
Some long-tenured Delaware lawmakers will not be going back to Dover. Tuesday’s primary resulted in the un-seating of Democratic State Senate President pro tem David McBride, who was first elected in 1980. McBride was defeated by Marie Pinkney in Tuesday’s 13thDistrict primary. Pinckney received just over 52-percent of the vote.
In a three-way race in District 26, Madinah Wilson-Anton defeated incumbent John Viola and another candidate.
Representative Earl Jaques fell to Eric Morrison in the 27th District Democratic primary.
And in District Seven, Representative Ray Siegfried was ousted in the primary by Larry Lambert.
Several other incumbents had better nights.
There was no incumbent running in House District 8, thanks to Quinton Johnson’s decision to not run for re-election.
Shere’a Moore was the winner of a three-way Democratic primary.
Republican State Senator Cathy Cloutier in the 5th District will face Democrat Kyle Evans Gay, who was the winner of a three-way Democratic primary.
In the Insurance Commissioner’s race, incumbent Trinidad Navarro won 64% of the Democrat vote over Kayode Abegunde. He will take on Republican Dr. Julia Pillsbury in November.
