DEMOCRATIC

§1Ballot status

✎ Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

It is on Delaware's own list of parties qualified for the 2026 election.^1,2 The state's class for it: major political party.^1,2

How a party qualifies in Delaware

A party appears on the general election ballot only if, 21 days before the primary, at least one-tenth of 1 percent of all voters registered statewide on December 31 of the year before are registered with it; for 2026 that meant 802 voters as of August 25, 2026.^1,3 A party must also be an organization that elects a state committee and officers at a state convention, and the Department of Elections asks a party nominating candidates to file a certificate naming the officers who may make nominations.^1,4 Where in the source: § 101 A party with at least 5 percent of registered voters on December 31 of the year before the election is a major political party; every other party is a minor political party.^2,4 Where in the source: § 101

How a party keeps its status

Ballot status depends only on the party's number of registered voters, which is checked again before each general election using the same one-tenth of 1 percent test; vote totals do not matter.^1,3 Even an eligible party is printed on a county's ballots only if at least one of its candidates qualifies to appear there.⁵

§2How it picks nominees

✎ Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

Primary election. Major parties nominate by direct primary when two or more candidates file for an office; a candidate who files unopposed is the nominee, and the party committee may name a nominee where no one filed.^6,7

Delaware's rules for nominating

Major party candidates file by noon on the second Tuesday in July, and contested nominations are decided in a primary on the second Tuesday after the first Monday in September, where the candidate with the most votes wins.^6,8,9 Minor parties nominate at a state or county convention held by August 1 and must file their certificates of nomination within 10 business days afterward.⁷ Where in the source: § 3301(e) Candidates not affiliated with any party reach the ballot by filing a declaration and petitions signed by at least 1 percent of the registered voters for the office by September 1.¹⁰

§3On the 2026 ballot

2 Candidates for U.S. Senate, U.S. House or governor whose label on Delaware's November 3 ballot names this party, from the state's official candidate list. Labels are shown exactly as the ballot prints them. Other offices aren't covered yet.

§4Notes on Delaware’s party research

What the research couldn’t find or confirm about Delaware’s parties, in its own plain words. Nothing is left out silently.

• Party names are copied in the capital letters the Department of Elections' Political Party Ballot Status page uses (updated October 5, 2026). The Department's candidate list prints shorter forms, such as Ind Pty of DE.
• The Department lists NONPARTISAN as ballot eligible. We found no official source on whether it has the state committee and convention that the legal definition of a party requires, or whether it filed a certificate of party title.
• The ballot status page gives registration counts as of its October 5, 2026 update, not as of the August 25, 2026 measuring date; the statuses are as the Department states them.