The 2016 Delaware gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2016, to elect the

governor of Delaware A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

in other states and

to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

and various

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and

local elections Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

. Incumbent Democratic governor

Jack Markell Jack Alan Markell (born November 26, 1960) is an American politician and diplomat. He had served the United States ambassador both to Italy and to San Marino. He had served as the United States ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-oper ...

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 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

* John Carney, U.S. representative, former lieutenant governor of Delaware and candidate for governor in 2008

Deceased

Beau Biden Joseph Robinette "Beau" Biden III (February 3, 1969 – May 30, 2015) was an American politician, lawyer, and officer in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army, Army Judge Advocate General's Corps from Wilmington, Delaware, Wilmingt ...

, former

Delaware Attorney General The attorney general of Delaware is a constitutional officer of the U.S. state of Delaware, and is the chief law officer and the head of the State Department of Justice. On January 1, 2019, Kathy Jennings was sworn in as the 46th attorney genera ...

and son of Delaware senator,

vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

, and future

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

(died May 30, 2015)

Withdrew

* Kevin Tinsley

Declined

* Matthew Denn,

and former lieutenant governor of Delaware * Thomas P. Gordon, county executive of New Castle County * John Kowalko, state representative * Peter Schwartzkopf, Speaker of the

Delaware House of Representatives The Delaware State 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 number of constituencies, each of whom is ...

* Bryan Townsend, state senator (running for Delaware's at-large seat in Congress)

Polling

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

* Colin Bonini, state senator and nominee for State Treasurer in 2010

Eliminated in primary

* Lacey Lafferty, retired state trooper

Declined

* Greg Lavelle, state senator and Minority Whip of the

Delaware Senate The Delaware State 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 occur ...

* Alan Levin, director of the Delaware Economic Development Office and former president and CEO of Happy Harry's * Michael Ramone, state representative * Daniel Short, Minority Leader of the Delaware House of Representatives * Ken Simpler, State Treasurer of Delaware

Polling

Results

Libertarian Party

Candidates

Declared

* Sean Louis Goward

General election

Debates

Complete video of debate
October 19, 2016 -

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

Predictions

Polling

{, class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;" , - valign= bottom ! Poll source ! Date(s)
administered ! Sample
size ! Margin of
error ! style="width:100px;", John
Carney (D) ! style="width:100px;", Colin
Bonini (R) ! Other ! Undecided , - ,

SurveyMonkey SurveyMonkey Inc. (formerly Momentive Global Inc. from 2021 to 2023) is an experience management company that offers cloud-based software in brand insights, market insights, product experience, employee experience, customer experience, online sur ...

, align=center, November 1–7, 2016 , align=center, 367 , align=center, ± 4.6% , align=center, 56% , align=center, 40% , align=center, — , align=center, 4% , - ,

, align=center, October 31–November 6, 2016 , align=center, 383 , align=center, ± 4.6% , align=center, 54% , align=center, 42% , align=center, — , align=center, 4% , - ,

, align=center, October 28–November 3, 2016 , align=center, 405 , align=center, ± 4.6% , align=center, 56% , align=center, 40% , align=center, — , align=center, 4% , - ,

, align=center, October 27–November 2, 2016 , align=center, 397 , align=center, ± 4.6% , align=center, 56% , align=center, 39% , align=center, — , align=center, 5% , - ,

, align=center, October 26–November 1, 2016 , align=center, 413 , align=center, ± 4.6% , align=center, 58% , align=center, 37% , align=center, — , align=center, 5% , - ,

, align=center, October 25–31, 2016 , align=center, 458 , align=center, ± 4.6% , align=center, 60% , align=center, 36% , align=center, — , align=center, 4% , - ,

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

University of Delaware
/ref> , align=center, September 16–28, 2016 , align=center, 900 , align=center, ± 3.8% , align=center, 57% , align=center, 25% , align=center, 7% , align=center, 11%

Results

By county

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right;font-size:90%;line-height:1.3" ! rowspan="2" , County ! colspan="2" , John Carney
Democratic ! colspan="2" , Colin Bonini
Republican ! colspan="2" , All Others , - ! data-sort-type="number" , # ! data-sort-type="number" , % ! data-sort-type="number" , # ! data-sort-type="number" , % ! data-sort-type="number" , # ! data-sort-type="number" , % , - ! ,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, , 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 Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, , 46,476 , , 45.24 , , 54,236 , , 52.79 , , 2,031 , , 1.97 , - class="sortbottom" ! Totals , 248,404 , 58.34 , 166,852 , 39.18 , 10,556 , 2.48 Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican *

(largest city: Seaford)

References

External links

Official campaign websites (Archived)
John Carney (D) for Governor

Colin Bonini (R) for Governor

Lacey Lafferty (R) for Governor
{{2016 United States elections

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

Gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...