Poll shows Delaware voters favor historic firsts for statewide races

Delaware voters are leaning toward electing its first Black senator and the first openly transgender member of Congress, according to polling from Delaware-based legal reform group Citizens for Judicial Fairness.

Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester is leading by 10 points among registered Democratic voters. And State Sen. Sarah McBride so far has a plurality of support to replace Blunt Rochester in the U.S. House at-large seat.

Both races are safe blue seats that will likely be decided in the primary elections on Sept. 10, 2024.

Blunt Rochester would be the first Black person and first woman to represent Delaware in the Senate, if she wins next year — just as she was when she won her House seat in 2016. She is a former intern of retiring Sen. Tom Carper.

The Senate has just one Black woman serving currently, Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), who has said she isn't running for the seat formerly held by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Among poll respondents, 43 percent said they would vote for Blunt Rochester if the primary was held today. Her next closest rival, sitting Gov. John Carney, had 33 percent support, though he is not a declared candidate in the race. Just 15 percent of voters were undecided.

In the contest to replace her, McBride, who has served in the state legislature since 2021, has 22 percent support. Though a majority of poll respondents were still undecided. McBride, if elected, would be the first openly transgender member of Congress.

But McBride is no stranger to the national political scene. President Joe Biden has called her to discuss LGBTQ policy issues and she’s known the Biden family for years, calling Beau Biden, the president’s late son, a mentor.

McBride’s closest challenger in the poll, Colleen Davis, garnered about 6 percent support. McBride has raised more than double her next highest earning opponent in the race, Eugene Young, who polled at 4 percent.

Blunt Rochester has about $2 million cash on hand, and no primary opponents to date.

The poll was conducted by Slingshot Strategies on Oct. 7-14, surveying 600 registered voters, of which about 45 percent were registered Democrats. It had a 3.9 percent margin of error.