# Delaware U.S. Senate 2026 > [!info] Primary decided — September 15, 2026 > Delaware held the **last scheduled primary of the cycle**. Sen. **Chris Coons** won renomination with roughly 78% against three unfunded challengers; **Dr. Michael "Mike" Katz** won the Republican nomination with roughly 77% over John Shulli. The Associated Press called the Republican race at 8:19 p.m. The general election is **Coons vs. Katz**, and the seat remains Solid D. > > One asterisk on the "last primary" label: Louisiana's six U.S. House seats never held a primary at all this cycle. After Louisiana v. Callais struck the state's map, the spring primaries were cancelled and all six districts moved to Louisiana's **open primary held on November 3 itself**, with a December 12 runoff if nobody clears 50%. The cycle's final primary votes are cast on Election Day. ## Snapshot Chris Coons (D) is seeking a third full term in a Solid D state, having first won a 2010 special election for the seat Joe Biden vacated on becoming vice president. Delaware has not sent a Republican to the Senate since William Roth, who served from 1971 to 2001 — Roth was last elected in 1994 and lost to Tom Carper in 2000. Coons dispatched his primary challengers without difficulty; Republicans nominated Michael Katz, a physician and businessman with a three-party electoral history and no national money behind him. The general election is uncompetitive. Race file exists for completeness; intel payoff is low. ## Incumbent - **[[Chris Coons]]** (D) — senator since 2010 (won the special to fill Biden's seat after Biden became VP). [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]]; Senate Judiciary. Close Biden ally; centrist-institutionalist Democratic profile. Re-elected 2020 with 59.4%. ## Democratic primary — RESULT (September 15, 2026) **Chris Coons won with 78.0%** (68,154 votes), defeating three challengers with no institutional backing: | Candidate | Vote share | Votes | |---|---|---| | **Chris Coons** (winner) | 78.0% | 68,154 | | Jeff Appelhans | 10.6% | 9,294 | | Mary Louve | 7.5% | 6,577 | | Eric Hansen | 3.9% | 3,367 | None of the three cleared 11%. The progressive lane produced no read worth acting on — the combined anti-Coons vote was 22%, which for a four-way field against a sitting senator is inside the normal range for protest voting and is not evidence of organized intra-party pressure. ## Republican primary — RESULT (September 15, 2026) **Michael Katz won with roughly 77%**, defeating **John Shulli**. AP called the race at 8:19 p.m. - **[[Michael Katz]]** (winner) — pediatric critical care anesthesiologist who also owns a commercial real estate company; former Delaware state senator for the 4th District, elected in 2008 **as a Democrat** and defeated for re-election in 2012. He was the Independent Party of Delaware's U.S. Senate nominee in **2024** before joining the Republican Party. Endorsed by the Delaware Republican Party. Campaigns on cost of living, health care, and federal fiscal restraint. - **John Shulli** — military veteran, part-time faculty instructor at the U.S. Army War College. Endorsed by former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and state Rep. Lyndon Yearick. ## General election — Coons vs. Katz Coons is a heavy favorite. Katz's three-party record over roughly eighteen years — Democratic state senator, Independent Party Senate nominee in 2024, Republican nominee in 2026 — is the most interesting thing about the matchup and is likely to be the Coons campaign's principal line of attack if it bothers to run one. If Katz won he would be the first Republican to hold the seat in 25 years; no forecaster rates that as live. ## Ratings history - 2026-04 — Cook: Solid D - 2026-09 — Cook: Solid D (unchanged after the primary) ## Key dates - 2026-07-14 — DE filing deadline - 2026-09-15 — DE primaries ✅ decided - 2026-11-03 — general election ## Money - Coons: $3M+ COH cycle — more than he needs for an uncompetitive race; excess likely transfers to DSCC - Republican field: minimal fundraising; no national committee investment signalled ## Elsewhere on the Delaware ballot - **At-large U.S. House** — [[Sarah McBride]] (D) was unopposed for renomination. Republicans nominated Dr. Joseph Arminio, a teacher and author. - **No gubernatorial race.** Delaware last elected a governor in 2024; the office is not on the 2026 ballot. ## Intel notes - **Low-stakes race**: file for completeness. The only real scenario that would move this rating is a Coons resignation or health event — no such signal currently. - **Biden corridor dynamics**: Delaware's political ecosystem is still adjusting post-Biden presidency. Coons remains central to the post-Biden Delaware Democratic establishment. - **The R bench is the story, not the race.** Delaware Republicans nominated a candidate who was a Democratic state senator in 2012 and an Independent Party nominee in 2024. That is a party recruiting from outside itself because it has no one inside — a 30-year trend that the 2026 result documents cleanly. - **Palantir money pledge (July 2026)**: per the AFSC [[Purge Palantir]] campaign page, Coons pledged to refuse contributions from Palantir, its PAC, or C-suite employees — notable because [[Palantir]] is incorporated in Delaware. Single-sourced to the campaign's own page as of 2026-08-11; unconfirmed by independent press. Low electoral impact in a Solid D race, but a data point for how far the anti-Palantir money pledge is spreading among Democrats pre-midterms. ## Related KB entities - [[Chris Coons]] — incumbent and Democratic nominee - [[Michael Katz]] — Republican nominee - [[Sarah McBride]] — at-large House incumbent on the same ballot ## Content leads - **Blog**: none compelling; skip unless an upset develops - **Data**: Delaware's R-bench depletion — the Katz nomination is the cleanest single illustration in the cycle of a state party with no internal bench ## Outside spending ### Outside-money log — FEC Form 24 notices ### Receipt date 2026-10-07 — [[AB PAC]] $231,764.19 for [[Chris Coons]], all billboards | Committee | File | Amount | Direction | Payees | |---|---|---|---|---| | **[[AB PAC]]** | **2018051** | **$231,764.19** | **support** [[Chris Coons]] | [[AdQuick]] / [[Lamar Companies]] / Target Platform | 3 billboard lines, expenditure date 2026-10-05, from [[AB PAC]]'s $22,762,650.41 29-state notice. Delaware is not a competitive seat, which makes this one of the clearer instances of the committee's stated strategy of spending into safe territory. See [[AB PAC 22.8M Billboard IE October 2026]]. ## Sources - [Ballotpedia — DE Senate 2026](https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_election_in_Delaware,_2026) - [Wikipedia — 2026 DE Senate election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_Senate_election_in_Delaware) - [WHYY — Katz defeats Shulli in Delaware's Republican primary](https://whyy.org/articles/election-2026-delaware-primary-senate-republican-winner/) - [WHYY — Coons defeats challengers in Delaware's Democratic primary](https://whyy.org/articles/election-2026-delaware-primary-senate-democrat-winner/)