Fierce delegate fight drives Delaware voters to the polls

WILMINGTON, Del. — Hillary Clinton made zero campaign stops in Delaware when she ran for president in 2008. This year, she made a point to swing through Wilmington ahead of the state’s primary on Tuesday. And she wasn’t alone.

Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke in downtown Wilmington over the weekend. Donald Trump, who is expected to win here easily, held a rally at the state fairgrounds last week.

Delaware has not held competitive presidential primaries in decades. But with tight races on both sides, candidates have been forced to spend time and resources on small, non-swing states like Delaware that rarely play a big role in presidential elections.

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“Delaware has definitely gotten a lot more attention than we normally do,” said Theodore Davis, a political science professor at the University of Delaware.

The voters have noticed. Turnout among Republicans is expected to be higher than it was in the state’s 2012 GOP primary, mirroring a nationwide trend. Interest in the battle between Clinton and Sanders is also bringing some Democrats who stayed home in past elections to the polls.

“I don’t think I’ve ever voted in a primary before,” Bonnie Sherr, a real estate broker, said after voting for Clinton at an elementary school in Greenville, an affluent, right-leaning suburb roughly 15 minutes northwest of Wilmington. “I didn’t think it was necessary in Delaware.”

An election worker at the polling location where Vice President Biden, a former Delaware senator, is registered to vote said turnout was up through the early afternoon, compared to the primaries four years ago.

“It’s nice to have my vote count. I think it does this time,” said Arlene Stratton, a retired business manager who lives in Greenville, where Biden has his primary residence.

Republicans in the area had a mixed view of the primary and their state’s brief turn in the national spotlight. Anya Khomenko, a retired computer programmer, said she reluctantly cast a ballot for Sen. Ted Cruz.

“We didn’t have a good choice,” Khomenko said. “Cruz is too rigid to win in the general, but at least he represents conservative values.”

Still, Khomenko, who immigrated to the United States from Russia in the early 1980s, said she never considered skipping the primary. “It feels good that [the Delaware primary] matters more” this year, she added.

Much of the buzz surrounding Delaware this week has been driven by the state’s delegate math in the Republican primary. Delaware only has 16 GOP delegates, but they will be awarded on a winner-take-all basis.

Trump has held large leads over Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich in polls in Delaware. A win in Delaware and the four other northeastern states holding primaries on Tuesday would add to his delegate lead and bring him one step closer towards clinching the Republican nomination.

The fierce delegate fight this year has elevated states like Delaware in the primary process, but political experts warned that the dynamic could change four years from now.

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“We’ve always had a low number of delegates,” said Samuel Hoff, who teaches at Delaware State University. The scenario this year won’t “necessarily [become part of] a regular cycle.”

Delaware’s relevance will fade even further this fall, when voters focus on the general election. The state only has three electoral college votes, and has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988.

But for one week, at least, voters enjoyed the state’s increased visibility on the national political stage.

In downtown Wilmington, residents were still talking about Clinton’s appearance the day after she spoke to a crowd of more than 700 supporters at a refurbished concert hall on Market Street.

“I was definitely surprised that she came here,” said Amanda Pearl, who works at the music venue, World Live Cafe, where Clinton held her rally. “For a Monday, it was definitely a lot of excitement.”