2017 Delaware's 10th state senate district special election

2017 Delaware Senate
10th District special election

← 2014 February 25, 2017 (2017-02-25) 2018 →
Delaware's 10th state senate district
Turnout	35.3%
Candidate Stephanie Hansen John Marino John Lanzendorfer Party Democratic Republican Libertarian Popular vote 7,110 5,127 139 Percentage 58.1 40.8 1.1

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v t e

On February 25, 2017, voters in the 10th district of the Delaware Senate voted in a special election to fill the seat left vacant by Democrat Bethany Hall-Long, the previous incumbent, who had resigned at the beginning of the year after having been elected lieutenant governor the preceding November. Democrat Stephanie Hansen, an environmental lawyer from Middletown who had in the past served a term as New Castle County Council President, won with 58.1 percent of the vote, defeating Republican opponent John Marino, who finished with 40.8 percent. Libertarian John Lanzendorfer, the only other candidate in the race, claimed the other 1.1 percent.^[1]

Republicans had hoped that their party could capitalize on gains they had made in the 2016 elections in a potentially vulnerable district, where despite a Democratic edge in voter registration Marino had lost to Hall-Long by less than 300 votes in the 2014 election. Hansen's victory ensured that Democrats retained control of the state senate, where they have been the majority party since 1976. Since Delaware's House of Representatives has been controlled by Democrats for the preceding eight years, and no Republican has served as governor since 1993, Democrats also preserved their trifecta. Delaware was at that time one of only five U.S. states where the Democratic party controls the executive and legislative branches of government.^[2]

The race attracted significant national media attention and interest from Democrats outside of Delaware, who along with several liberal political action committees and labor unions contributed more money to Hansen's campaign than both Marino and Hall-Long had spent combined in their 2014 contest, conscious of their party's frequently poor performance in special elections; ultimately, she raised over a million dollars, ten times as much as a Delaware state legislative race usually costs and a new record for any state legislative race^[3] and any special election in Delaware.^[4] Marino also raised a large amount of money for a state legislative race, but was still outspent. There were also formal complaints from both sides over apparent collusion between the campaigns and outside groups. Republicans were also unhappy after the election when it was reported that some voters had been under the age of 18 due to a loophole in a recently passed election law.

Democrats both inside and outside the state saw the contest as a chance to respond electorally to the presidency of Donald Trump, which had led to widespread protests since his inauguration the month before, and while Hansen and Marino primarily campaigned on local issues, she touched on national concerns in her advertising and speeches. Former Delaware U.S. Senator Joseph Biden, whose term as Vice President had ended at the same time Trump was sworn in, not only appeared at Hansen's fundraisers and in her campaign ads but went door-to-door with her as well.^[5] Hansen's victory margin and the 35.3 percent voter turnout, better than usual for a special election, were seen as validating hopes that opposition to Trump could motivate Democrats to vote and possibly lead to greater success later that year and in the 2018 national midterm elections.^[6]