WILMINGTON — In a historic election for Delaware, New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer won the race for governor, while U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester was elected to serve Delaware in the U.S. Senate. Wilmington state Senator Sarah McBride also won the race for Delaware’s sole congressional seat, making her the first transgender person elected to congress.
Meyer was declared the winner over Pike Creek state Rep. Mike Ramone by the Associated Press as of 8:30 p.m. With more than three-quarters of all voting precincts reporting results, Meyer had won with 56% of the vote, or 262,385 votes. Once he is sworn in on Jan. 21, he will become the 75th governor of the First State and the first New Castle County Executive to do so.
Meyer had spent the last 20 months campaigning throughout the state, traveling well beyond his district and speaking with voters in living rooms, campaign events and canvassing neighborhoods with volunteers. His efforts paid off well in a highly competitive primary last September where he faced off against Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long — who had received several endorsements, including from the state Democratic Party — and National Wildlife Federation CEO Collin O’Mara where he held Sussex and New Castle County.
But even so, he told the Delaware Business Times earlier on Nov. 5 that his thoughts were on the historic significance of who he shared the ballot with: Vice President Kamala Harris, Blunt Rochester and McBride.
When he spoke to reporters Tuesday afternoon, Meyer was optimistic that McBride will be joining Blunt Rochester and U.S. Sen. Chris Coons on Capitol Hill this winter. If she wins, McBride will be the first transgender man or woman to serve in a federal elected position. Blunt Rochester would be the first Black woman to represent Delaware in the U.S. Senate.
“Keep in mind that until 2016 in the entire state of Delaware, every U.S. Senator, every Representative in Congress, was a white man. Lisa changed that. Every single U.S. Senator in the Senate has been a white man. That will change today,” he told the Delaware Business Times. “Every single representative has been heterosexual, and to be the first in the country to elect a [transgender woman] is exciting. As someone who will share a stage with them, it’s truly an honor.”
When U.S. Sen. Tom Carper announced he would retire in the summer of 2023, he reportedly called Blunt Rochester to tell her the news before his press conference, and that he wanted her to run for his seat. Only three other Black women have served in the Senate, two of whom were elected and one of who was appointed.
Blunt Rochester just became the fourth to be elected to the Senate – and the first since Harris had ascended to the Vice Presidency in 2020. She handily beat out Republican nominee Eric Hansen, a businessman who served as a Walmart executive, and independent Michael Katz. Her win was supported by more than $9 million in fundraising dollars, as of mid-October, according to campaign finance reports.
Blunt Rochester has served four terms as Delaware’s lone representative in the house, sponsoring 90 bills and seven resolutions – and has made jobs and workforce development the cornerstone of her policy in the past year.
Before supporters at the Chase Center at the Wilmington Riverfront, Blunt Rochester thanked supporters and said she had seen the greatness of the First State, from the small business owner in Middletown to the activists in Ellendale to the farmer in Felton.
“This campaign has been about you, your hopes, your dreams, fears and aspirations. And my time in the Senate will always be about you. We all know Delaware is more than just a small state,” she said. “We are fields and farms. We are beaches and bays. We are cities and towns. From Bridgeville to South Bridge… our communities represent the textured tapestry that is America.
“Delaware is America. And America is always worth fighting for,” Blunt Rochester added.
As Blunt Rochester ascends to the U.S. Senate, McBride, a former Wilmington activist turned state senator, has been elected to take her seat. McBride had won the majority of votes over James Whalen III, a retired state police officer and construction company owner from Millsboro.
McBride had been a longtime political activist, serving on several campaigns including Gov. Jack Markell’s campaign in 2008 and Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden in 2010. When she came out as transgender in 2012, she attracted notice from around the world and has been credited for shaping President Joe Biden’s views on transgender rights.
She was first elected to represent the northeast areas of Wilmington in Delaware’s state house in 2021. In her time in the state house, she successfully crafted Delaware’s paid family and medical leave bill which goes into effect in 2026.
In remarks late Tuesday night, McBride thanked her supporters and volunteers that helped her on her campaign, as well as the voters who have “entrusted me with the awe-inspiring and solemn responsibility” of representing the state she loves in Congress.
“We must never forget that we are the beneficiaries of seemingly impossible change becoming a reality; that it’s always been in our country’s most significant challenges that we take our biggest steps forward. Because no matter what obstacles stand in our way, so long as we breathe, we hope – and, together, we can once again turn that hope into historic progress,” McBride added.
In other notable races, outgoing Governor John Carney was elected the next mayor of Wilmington unopposed. Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro won with 58% of the vote. State Sen. Kyle Evans Gay was leading the race for lieutenant governor as of 10 p.m. with 55% of the vote.
Outside state politics, Delawareans went to the ballot box in droves, with long lines snaking outside polling precincts across the state as soon as they opened at 7 a.m. This also marks the first presidential election since 2019 when early voting was an option in Delaware after lawmakers approved it. Close to 57,000 votes were cast through early voting, representing one in four registered voters in the state. Delaware had 60% turnout overall for the 2024 election.
The highly anticipated presidential election likely was a large factor in the large voter turnout, and even though it may not be clear until days after Election Day who will be the next president, Meyer said that he saw the turnout as a growing sense of urgency for change.
“I think it’s a sense of unleashed excitement in our community and communities across this country about truly moving forward. Part of it is about gender, part of it is about race, and part of it about who we are as a community and the vision we all have for what America is,” Meyer told DBT Tuesday afternoon.
When asked about how it felt to share the ballot with Harris and former President Donald Trump, he said it was “incredible.”
“I was a Delaware kid, and suddenly, my name is right below Kamala Harris on the ballot, it’s amazing. It’s an honor to my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother and generations who worked hard for a woman to be in such a position,” he said. “The fact that I’m there is a reminder I’m part of a team that has a vision for moving our state and country forward.”
