The 2008 United States Senate election in Delaware was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Biden, who was also the Democratic nominee for vice president in the concurrent presidential election, faced

Christine O'Donnell Christine Therese O'Donnell (born August 27, 1969) is an American conservative activist in the Tea Party movement best known for her 2010 campaign for the United States Senate seat from Delaware vacated by Joe Biden. O'Donnell was born in Phi ...

in the general election. Biden won re-election to a seventh term with 64.69% of the vote, his best performing result in his senatorial career, while also being elected

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

. Biden took his oath of office in the Senate chamber with the rest of his colleagues on January 3, 2009, but resigned his seat on January 15, 2009, and assumed the vice presidency five days later.

Candidates

Democratic

* Joe Biden, incumbent U.S. Senator (unopposed)

Republican

, media consultant and political analyst * Tim Smith, businessman

General election

Campaign

After ending his 2008 presidential bid in January 2008, Biden focused instead on running for a seventh Senate term. He was unopposed within his party. O'Donnell faced businessman Tim Smith at the Republican state party convention and won with more than 60 percent of the delegate vote. On August 23, 2008, Democratic Party presidential nominee

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

announced that he had selected Biden to serve as his vice presidential running mate. Under Delaware law, Biden could run simultaneously for both his Senate seat and for vice president, which he decided to do. The statewide party primary elections were held September 9, 2008.Calendar of Election Events
''Delaware Commissioner of Elections'' O'Donnell was uncontested in the Republican primary, as was Biden in the Democratic primary. O'Donnell tried to make an issue of Biden's dual campaigns, claiming that serving his constituents was not important to him, and criticized his unwillingness to participate in debates and candidate forums. Nevertheless, she was heavily outspent by Biden and her campaign failed to gain traction. Her campaign ended with $23,000 in debt. Minutes after the polls closed on November 4,

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

called the race for Biden, with other news organizations soon following.

Predictions

Polling

Results

County results

Subsequent events

After being sworn in on January 3, Biden resigned as senator on January 15 in order to become vice president on January 20. Delaware Governor

Ruth Ann Minner Ruth Ann Minner (née Coverdale; January 17, 1935 – November 4, 2021) was an American politician and businesswoman from Milford, in Kent County, Delaware. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 72nd (and, to date, only female) gov ...

appointed

Ted Kaufman Edward Emmett Kaufman (born March 15, 1939) is a retired American politician and businessman who served as a United States senator from Delaware from 2009 to 2010. He chaired the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Oversight of the Troubled As ...

, a Democrat, to fill the vacant seat until a special election in 2010. O'Donnell once again ran unsuccessfully for the seat; she was defeated by Democrat

Chris Coons Christopher Andrew Coons (born September 9, 1963) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Delaware since 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, Coons served as the county executive of New Castle Cou ...

References

External links

Delaware Commissioner of Elections

from ''OurCampaigns.com''
Campaign contributions for Delaware congressional races
from

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP). ...

{{2008 United States elections, state=expanded

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...