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Delaware: And The Winner Is
Chris Coons won the Delaware Senate election on Nov. 3, 2026, retaining the Class II seat he has held since 2010. Coons entered the general election with a receipts advantage of more than 40-to-1 over Republican Michael Katz.
The Delaware Department of Elections showed Coons leading Katz by 102,429 votes, with Coons at 240,084 votes and Katz at 137,655.
Coons won the Democratic primary on Sept. 15, taking 68,154 votes out of 87,392 cast, or 78.0%, according to the race record. Three challengers ran against him in the Democratic primary: Jeff Appelhans received 10.6%, Mary Louve 7.5%, and Eric No-Trump Anthony Hansen 3.9%.
On the Republican side, Katz won the primary with 77.3% of the vote, defeating John Shulli, who received 22.7%.
Coons reported $7,685,072 in total receipts against Katz's $190,416, a ratio of more than 40 to 1, as of Oct. 14, 2026, per Federal Election Commission filings. Coons also held $5,031,711 in cash on hand compared with Katz's $16,085.
Outside spending broke entirely in one direction:
Coons has served in the Senate since 2010, a span of about 16 years as of 2026.
His committee assignments, per the U.S. Senate, cover Appropriations, Foreign Relations, the Judiciary, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and the Select Committee on Ethics:
In the 119th Congress, Congress.gov lists Coons as the sponsor of S.5308, the Afghanistan Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Act of 2026.
At an Oct. 22 forum, Katz said Delaware had become "unaffordable and is dying" during Coons's 16 years in office, citing rising energy costs and education problems, according to WHYY News. Coons, at the same forum, urged voters not to "take a risk on an untested candidate."
WHYY also reported that Katz alleged a "powerful elite" was behind hacks of his campaign communications and threats to staff; Katz declined to identify whom he blamed, and the claim was not a direct accusation against Coons.
Cook Political Report rated the race Solid Democratic as of Feb. 11; Inside Elections rated it Solid Democrat for the 2026 cycle, with no update date stated on its page; and AllCiv's consensus rating stood at Solid Democratic as of Nov. 3.
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