Battle of Caving Banks

The 2008 Delaware Senate election was held on November 4, 2008, to elect 10 of the 21 members to Delaware's Senate. The election coincided with elections for other offices, including for U.S. President, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and state house. The primary election was held on September 9, 2008.^[1]

Results summary

District	Incumbent		Elected Senator
2	Margaret Rose Henry	Dem	Margaret Rose Henry	Dem
3	Robert Marshall	Dem	Robert Marshall	Dem
4	Charlie Copeland	Rep	Michael Katz	Dem
6	Liane Sorenson	Rep	Liane Sorenson	Rep
10	Steven Amick	Rep	Bethany Hall-Long	Dem
11	Tony DeLuca	Dem	Tony DeLuca	Dem
16	Colin Bonini	Rep	Colin Bonini	Rep
17	John Still III	Rep	Brian Bushweller	Dem
18	Gary Simpson	Rep	Gary Simpson	Rep
21	Robert Venables Sr.	Dem	Robert Venables Sr.	Dem

Party		Candi- dates	Votes		Seats
Party		Candi- dates	No.	%	No.	+/–	%
	Democratic	10	110,909	65.11%	16	3	76.19%
	Republican	6	59,428	34.89%	5	3	23.81%
Total		16	170,337	100%	21		100%

Popular vote

Democratic			65.11%
Republican			34.89%

Senate seats

Democratic			76.19%
Republican			23.81%

Detailed results

^[2]^[3]

District 2

Incumbent Democrat Majority Leader Margaret Rose Henry has represented the 2nd district since 1994.

Delaware Senate 2nd district general election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Margaret Rose Henry (incumbent)	11,872	100%
Total votes			11,872	100%
	Democratic hold

District 3

Incumbent Democrat Robert Marshall has represented the 3rd district since 1979.

Delaware Senate 3rd district general election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Robert Marshall (incumbent)	10,225	100%
Total votes			10,225	100%
	Democratic hold

District 4

Incumbent Republican Minority Leader Charlie Copeland has represented the 4th district since 2003. Copeland retired to run for Lieutenant Governor. Democrat Michael Katz won the open seat.

Democratic primary

Delaware Senate 4th district Democratic primary election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael Katz	2,428	63.00%
	Democratic	Dee Durham	1,426	37.00%
Total votes			3,854	100%

Republican primary

Delaware Senate 4th district Republican primary election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Clatworthy	1,822	47.77%
	Republican	Michael Fleming	1,366	35.82%
	Republican	Richard Abbott	626	16.41%
Total votes			3,814	100%

General election

Delaware Senate 4th district general election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael Katz	11,296	50.65%
	Republican	John Clatworthy	11,004	49.35%
Total votes			22,300	100%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 6

Incumbent Republican Liane Sorenson has represented the 6th district since 1995.

Democratic primary

Delaware Senate 6th district Democratic primary election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Mackenzie	1,347	51.24%
	Democratic	Michael Terranova	1,282	48.76%
Total votes			2,629	100%

General election

Delaware Senate 6th district general election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Liane Sorenson (incumbent)	7,195	51.30%
	Democratic	John Mackenzie	6,831	48.70%
Total votes			14,026	100%
	Republican hold

District 10

Incumbent Republican Steven Amick has represented the 10th district since 1995. Amick didn't seek re-election and Democrat Bethany Hall-Long won the open seat.

Republican primary

Delaware Senate 10th district Republican primary election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	James Weldin	802	65.74%
	Republican	Andrea Daley	418	34.26%
Total votes			1,220	100%

General election

Delaware Senate 10th district general election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bethany Hall-Long	13,965	64.90%
	Republican	James Weldin	7,554	35.10%
Total votes			21,519	100%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 11

Incumbent Democrat Tony DeLuca has represented the 11th district since 1999.

Delaware Senate 11th district general election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tony DeLuca (incumbent)	13,318	100%
Total votes			13,318	100%
	Democratic hold

District 16

Incumbent Republican Colin Bonini has represented the 16th district since 1995.

Delaware Senate 16th district general election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Colin Bonini (incumbent)	11,156	56.39%
	Democratic	Harold Stafford	8,629	43.61%
Total votes			19,785	100%
	Republican hold

District 17

Incumbent Republican John Still III has represented the 17th district since 1988. Still didn't seek re-election and Democrat Brian Bushweller won the open seat.

Delaware Senate 17th district general election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Brian Bushweller	10,279	56.47%
	Republican	James Hutchinson	7,923	43.53%
Total votes			18,202	100%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 18

Incumbent Republican Gary Simpson has represented the 18th district since 1999.

Delaware Senate 18th district general election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Gary Simpson (incumbent)	14,596	55.11%
	Democratic	Gary Downes	11,891	44.89%
Total votes			26,487	100%
	Republican hold

District 21

Incumbent Democrat Robert Venables Sr. has represented the 21st district since 1989.

Delaware Senate 21st district general election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Robert Venables Sr. (incumbent)	12,603	100%
Total votes			12,603	100%
	Democratic hold

References

^ "Delaware Senate elections, 2008". Ballotpedia. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
^ "Primary Election (Official Results)". State of Delaware Department of Elections. October 2, 2008. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
^ "General Election (Official Results)". State of Delaware Department of Elections. November 15, 2008. Retrieved June 21, 2023.

[1] "Delaware Senate elections, 2008". Ballotpedia. Retrieved June 21, 2023.

[2] "Primary Election (Official Results)". State of Delaware Department of Elections. October 2, 2008. Retrieved June 21, 2023.

[3] "General Election (Official Results)". State of Delaware Department of Elections. November 15, 2008. Retrieved June 21, 2023.

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See also: Political party strength in Delaware

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