# 2016 Delaware gubernatorial election

The 2016 Delaware gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2016, to elect the governor of Delaware, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Incumbent Democratic governor Jack Markell 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.

## Democratic primary
### Candidates
#### Nominee

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

#### Deceased

* Beau Biden, former Delaware Attorney General and son of Delaware senator, vice president, and future president Joe Biden (died May 30, 2015)

#### Withdrew

* Kevin Tinsley

#### Declined

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

### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | John Carney | Other | Undecided |
| Fairleigh Dickinson/Delaware News Journal | July 20–24, 2016 | 344 | ± 5.3% | 67% | 9% | 23% |

## 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
* 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

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Colin Bonini | Lacey Lafferty | Other | Undecided |
| Fairleigh Dickinson/Delaware News Journal | July 20–24, 2016 | 224 | ± 6.6% | 29% | 22% | 3% | 42% |

### Results

Republican primary results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Colin Bonini | 21,150 | 69.88 |
| | Republican | Lacey Lafferty | 9,115 | 30.12 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 30,265 | 100.00 |

## Libertarian Party
### Candidates
#### Declared

* Sean Louis Goward

## General election
### Debates

* Complete video of debate, October 19, 2016 - C-SPAN

### Predictions

| Source | Ranking | As of |
| The Cook Political Report | Safe D | August 12, 2016 |
| Daily Kos | Safe D | November 8, 2016 |
| Rothenberg Political Report | Safe D | November 3, 2016 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball | Safe D | November 7, 2016 |
| Real Clear Politics | Safe D | November 1, 2016 |
| Governing | Safe D | October 27, 2016 |

### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | John Carney (D) | Colin Bonini (R) | Other | Undecided |
| SurveyMonkey | November 1–7, 2016 | 367 | ± 4.6% | 56% | 40% | — | 4% |
| SurveyMonkey | October 31–November 6, 2016 | 383 | ± 4.6% | 54% | 42% | — | 4% |
| SurveyMonkey | October 28–November 3, 2016 | 405 | ± 4.6% | 56% | 40% | — | 4% |
| SurveyMonkey | October 27–November 2, 2016 | 397 | ± 4.6% | 56% | 39% | — | 5% |
| SurveyMonkey | October 26–November 1, 2016 | 413 | ± 4.6% | 58% | 37% | — | 5% |
| SurveyMonkey | October 25–31, 2016 | 458 | ± 4.6% | 60% | 36% | — | 4% |
| University of Delaware | September 16–28, 2016 | 900 | ± 3.8% | 57% | 25% | 7% | 11% |

### Results

Delaware gubernatorial election, 2016 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Democratic | John Carney | 248,404 | 58.34% | −10.99% |
| | Republican | Colin Bonini | 166,852 | 39.18% | +10.59% |
| | Green | Andrew Groff | 5,951 | 1.39% | +0.24% |
| | Libertarian | Sean Louis Goward | 4,577 | 1.09% | +0.17% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 425,784 | 100.00% | N/A |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |

#### Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

* Sussex (largest city: Seaford)