GOP wins big in Sussex

Results are in for the 2016 election, and while there was a lot of build up, none of the Cape Region or Sussex County races ended up being all that exciting.

There was not a single race in Sussex County where the incumbent or Republican newcomer didn’t win by at least 10 percentage points.

The County Council District 3 race between Republican I.G. Burton III and against Democratic newcomer Leslie Ledogar featured the closest race, but still saw Burton win with 56 percent, 14,308 votes, to Ledogar’s 44 percent, 11,318 votes.

In the 14th Representative District race, Democratic incumbent Pete Schwartzkopf defeated Republican challenger James DeMartino, by 64 percent to 36 percent margin. Schwartzkopf has represented the district since 2002 and is speaker of the House.

In the 20th Representative District race, Republican incumbent Steve Smyk took an early lead and never looked back. By 9:17 p.m., all 10 districts had reported, with Smyk winning by 25 percentage points and garnering 9,209 votes to Democratic challenger Barbara Vaughan’s 5,529 and Independent Party of Delaware Don Ayotte’s 218. Smyk has represented the district since 2012.

By 9:05 p.m., all seven districts had reported in the 37th Representative District, with Republican incumbent Ruth Briggs King defeating Democratic challenger Paulette Rappa, 6,720 votes to 4,038.

This is the second time Briggs King has defeated Rappa. In 2014, she defeated her 4,173 votes to 2,214. Briggs King has represented the district since 2009.

In the 35th Representative District race, Republican incumbent Dave Wilson defeated Gary Wolfe, 6,552 to 2,435. Wilson has represented the district since 2008.

In the 41st Representative District race, Republican incumbent Rich Collins defeated Democratic challenger Brad Connor, 5,899 votes to 4,070. Collins has represented the district since 2014.

In the 20th Senatorial District race, Republican incumbent Gerald Hocker has defeated Democratic challenger Perry Mitchell, 17,908 to 6,831.

In the clerk of the peace race, Republican Norman Jones defeated Democrat Charles Koskey, 58,635 votes to 40,881.

A record number of absentee ballots – 9,177 – were reported by the Sussex County Department of Elections. The old record was 7160.

A record-tying turnout of registered voters cast their ballots in Sussex County. The department is reporting 68 percent, 105,814 out of 155,512, voted in the 2016 election. That ties the record set in 2012.

Statewide results

Just like the Sussex County races, the statewide races were decided early. Unlike Sussex, the GOP didn’t fare well.

It started at the top with Democrat Hillary Clinton’s defeat of Republican Donald Trump, 53 percent to 42 percent, in Delaware’s presidential race. Trump did garner more votes in Kent and Sussex counties, 99,596 to 72,676, but Clinton nearly doubled him in New Castle County, 162,905 to 85,507.

Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester becomes the first woman and African American to represent Delaware as U.S. Representative after defeating Republican Hans Reigle, 56 percent to 41 percent. Libertarian Scott Gesty and Green Party candidate Mark Perri each received less than two percent of the vote.

Rochester is filling the seat of soon-to-be former U.S. Representative John Carney, a Democrat, who defeated Republican challenger Colin Bonini, 58 percent to 39 percent, in the race to be Delaware’s next governor. Libertarian Sean Goward and Green Party candidate Andrew Groff each received less than two percent of the vote.

In the lieutenant governor’s race, Democrat Bethany Hall-Long defeated Republican La Mar Gunn, 59 percent to 41 percent. The lieutenant governor’s seat has been vacant since January 2015, when Democrat Matt Denn stepped down and was sworn in as attorney general.

Just like in the lieutenant governor’s race, the Democrat, Trinidad Navarro, defeated the Republican, Jeff Cragg, 59 percent to 41 percent.