Delaware politics remain the same… But don’t paint it Blue
In a time of broad political generalizations based on polls that only started to be taken seriously about 50 years, I would like to make one based on fact. The geographic politics of Delaware have never changed. It is the first state, and the most perfect for a case study in voting returns. To start, Delaware has always had three counties; New Castle to the north, Sussex in the south and Kent somewhere in the middle. The political leanings of the these counties have always been set into the same extremes. New Castle and Sussex have always been firmly set into opposing parties and Kent has always swung somewhere in the middle.
The only thing that has changed is the method of electing Federal officials such as the U.S senators and President. Modern U.S. Senator and Presidential electors are chosen state wide at large. Not so in 1800. Back then, the U.S. Senator and Presidential electors were chosen by the General Assembly.
Ok, Let’s get to the numbers to show the true impact of this change.
In 1800, popular vote for President can only be determined through the votes for the legislature. Kent County happen to swing Federalist that year by a margin of 78 votes and accordingly the state designated all of their electoral votes for John Adams. If the modern rules applied and John Adams would also have won the popular vote in Delaware.
New Castle
- 916 Federalist
- 1244 Republican
Kent
-833 Federalist
-727 Republican
Sussex
- 950 Federalist
- 377 Republican
However, if we applied the historic rules to our modern elections, Delaware would be wearing a different color. If you total these numbers up the county numbers below the state will go Democrat but 2 out of 3 counties had Republican majorities. If the legislature were still electing the Presidential electors and U.S. Senators, then Bush would have won the state and Joe Biden would not be a US Senator.
2000 Presidential Popular Vote
New Castle County —
127798 Democratic
78809 Republican
Kent County —
22676 Democratic
24071 Republican
Sussex County —
29827 Democratic
34467 Republican