DELAWARE
      Nov. 3, 2020 U.S. Senate

Gov.
 Sen.1
 Sen.2
2020
 x

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 x

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x
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 x x
2011


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x
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+Chris Coons (D) i
 		291,804
 		59.44%
Lauren Witzke (R)
 		186,054
 		37.90%
Mark W. Turley (IPD) 7,833
 		1.60%
Nadine Frost (L)
 5,244
 1.07%

490,935
Registration: 739,570.  Total voting: 509,241.
Plurality: 105,750 votes (21.54 percentage points)
 DE Department of Elections



Notes:  Sen. Chris Coons (D) won a second full term; Coons was first elected in a special election in 2010 to fill the seat formerly held by Joe Biden and was elected to a first full term in 2014. 

Democrats won all statewide races.  The result in Coons' 2020 re-election race was very similar to Sen. Tom Carper (D)'s re-election in 2018.  (Carper 59.95%, Coons 59.44%; Arlett 37.81%, Witzke 37.90%; 2018 plurality 22.14 percentage points, 2020 plurality 21.54 percentage points).

In the Sept. 15 Democratic primary Coons defeated Jessica Scarane by 72.85% to 27.15%.  In the Republican primary activist Lauren Witzke upset Jim DeMartino, an attorney and retired Marine Corps officer, by 56.89% to 43.11%.  Witzke, often described as a "far-right conspiracy theorist," was an extremely controversial nominee.  Also running were businessman Mark Turley for the Independent Party of Delaware and Libertarian Nadine Frost.

There was no direct debate in the Senate race.  Candidates for multiple offices, including Coons and Witzke, participated in a Zoom candidate forum hosted by the Jewish Federation of Delaware on Sept. 22 (>).  On Sept. 29 Coons' campaign manager said he would not participate in any additional debates, citing in particular the ongoing process to replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  The University of Delaware’s Center for Political Communications U.S. Senate debate scheduled for Oct. 14 was canceled.  The League of Women Voters organized a Zoom debate on the evening of Oct. 28 which seemed ready to proceed without Coons.  Third party candidate Mark Turley described what happened: "At 7:00 PM the moderator began to set the rules for the debate and go over timing, etc. With that Lauren Witzke asked if Chris Coons was going to participate.... The moderator said "No". With that Lauren talked to one of her team and abruptly left the meeting without any explanation....... Then the moderator informed me the rules state they cannot have a single chair candidate so i was asked to leave the debate."




 Campaign Managers:
Chris Coons:  Christy Gleason
(Jan. 2020)  Senior strategist to Sen. Chris Coons, Jan. 2015-Jan. 2020.  Campaign manager on Chris Coons for Deleware re-election campaign, Jan.-Nov. 2014.  Senior policy advisor to Sen. Chris Coons, Nov. 2010-Jan. 2014.  Campaign manager on Chris Coons for Delaware, Feb.-Nov. 2010.  Deputy chief administration office in New Castle County, Sept. 2009-Feb. 2010.  Executive director of the Camden County Democratic Committee, Jan. 2008-Sep. 2009.  Communications director for New Castle County, Nov. 2005-Jan. 2008.  Chief of staff for NJ 4th Legislative District, Jan.-Nov. 2005.  Political director for the Camden County Democratic Committee, Nov. 2003-Jan. 2005.  Campaign manager for NJ 4th Legislative District, Mar.-Nov. 2003.  Campaign manager on Carl Schnee for Attorney General, Apr.-Nov. 2002.  Program coordinator at the Center for American Women and Politics, 2000-02.  Clerk to Pennsylvania Superior Court Judge Peter Paul Olszewski, Sept. 1998-99.  J.D. from St. John's University, 1998; B.A. in political science from American University, 1993.


Lauren Witzke




SEEKING LAUREN WITZKE LITERATURE



         
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