‘Political stripe’ once mattered less in Delaware

By Andrew West

DOVER — Some notes and old quotes between headlines and deadlines …

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Remember when Delaware proudly wore the bellwether title?

The run started after Delaware had sided with Republican Thomas E. Dewey over Democrat Harry S. Truman in the 1948 election. (Remember the famous erroneous headline, “Dewey defeats Truman” in the Chicago Daily Tribune? Well, it was true for Delaware.)

In presidential elections from 1952 through 1996, the First State was the only state in the nation to back the winning presidential candidates.

That’s all the way from Republican Dwight David Eisenhower to Democrat Bill Clinton.

In 1988, then-Delaware Elections Commissioner John G. Davis Jr. noted that the state had chosen the losing presidential candidate just three times in the 20th century. That year, Delaware was in step with the nation with George H. W. Bush.

It was the last year that Delaware backed a Republican.

“Delaware voters ignored party labels and selected candidates of every political stripe,” he wrote in a post-election report. “It is heartening to see the keen competition between the political parties. Ultimately Delaware citizens are the winners in a truly two-party state.”

The bellwether streak ended when Delaware backed Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004.

Delaware has backed the Democratic Party candidate for the last eight elections. Of those eight, Delaware sided with the winner five times.

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The shift to the Democratic Party dominance in Delaware followed big population changes in the state.

Delaware grew by more than 17 percent in the 1990s. It was at a time when economic forces were evolving in the state.

“The fact that Delaware sided with the Republicans throughout most of the 20th century can be partially attributed to the presence of the DuPont Company and the Du Pont family and their effect on state politics,” the website 270toWin.com states. “That influence waned toward the end of the century as Delaware’s businesses became more diversified.”

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Sussex County, which only had two districts favor Joe Biden in 2020, has voted for the Republican candidate in every election since 1980. The last Democratic Party candidate to win in Sussex was Jimmy Carter in 1976.

By the way, President Biden — then a U.S. senator from Delaware — is often credited with boosting President Carter’s popularity in the 1976 election.

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After reading today’s commentary on the electoral college, readers might be curious about Delaware.

The First State holds three votes, as it has since the early 1800s. Delaware carries the same weight as Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Washington, D.C. Distribution of electoral votes is based on populations.

A candidate needs 270 of the possible 538 to win.

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According to the Delaware Department of Elections’ Oct. 1 data, Democratic Party registrations totaled 351,454 – about 45 percent of the total.

There were 206,770 Republicans – about 26 percent.
The third largest segment of voters is listed as “no party.” They total 184,540.

There are more than 782,000 registered voters in Delaware today. That’s about twice the number there were in 1992.

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Opinion deadline: The Daily State News’ deadline for submission of election-related opinions will be Tuesday, Oct. 29.

This will allow us time to consider publication in the print or e-newspapers, and BaytoBayNews.com.
We’re now just 16 days away from the election on Nov. 5.

How many of you are counting down to the vote or counting down to a time without attack ads on your Philadelphia television stations?

Early voting in Delaware begins Friday, Oct. 25.