1990 United States Senate election in Delaware

← 1984 November 6, 1990 1996 →

Nominee Joe Biden M. Jane Brady Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 112,918 64,554 Percentage 62.68% 35.83%

County results State House district results Biden:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%

U.S. senator before election Joe Biden Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Joe Biden Democratic

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The 1990 United States Senate election in Delaware was held on November 6, 1990. Incumbent Democratic U.S. senator Joe Biden won re-election to a fourth term, defeating Republican challenger Attorney General of Delaware M. Jane Brady. Brady decided to run because she felt that Biden's liberal voting record did not reflect the political positions of Delawareans. Brady's campaign raised around 245 thousand, she was heavily outspent by Biden who raised around 2.8 million.

Biden won in a landslide with over 60% of the vote improving on his 1984 margin, winning all three counties and all 41 state house districts

In 1984, despite Ronald Reagan's landslide presidential victory,^[1] Joe Biden won reelection to a third term defeating Republican challenger John M. Burris with a little over 60% of the vote.^[2][3]

In an interview with C-SPAN, Biden stated that he made the decision to run for a fourth term during his time in a hospital stay, saying that it was "Not difficult at all. Ironically it was less difficult than any of the other decisions."^{[‡ 1]} He added that he came significantly closer to not running in 1978 and 1984.^{[‡ 1]}

Also being interviewed by C-SPAN, Brady stated that she was approached to run by the Delaware Republican Party due to her history as a criminal prosecutor. She stated that her decision to run was made after she learned of Biden's liberal voting record and felt that it "just does not reflect the views of the people of Delaware".^{[‡ 2]} Brady identified herself as a conservative, though noting that she held some socially liberal beliefs.^{[‡ 3]}

• Joe Biden (Democratic), incumbent Delaware senator running for a fourth consecutive term^[4][3]
• M. Jane Brady (Republican), Deputy Attorney General of Delaware^[4][5]
• Lee Rosenbaum (Libertarian)^[4]

Speaking with C-SPAN, Biden stated he planned to campaign similarly to how he did in his previous elections.^{[‡ 4]} Although he noted that he would have less time to campaign due to his role in overseeing David Souter's nomination to the Supreme Court due to his role on the Senate Judiciary Committee.^{[‡ 5]}

Brady was criticized by The News Journal as they felt the public knew little about her. Brady noted that her frequently sent them press releases and cases she worked on frequently received news coverage.^{[‡ 6]}

In August 1990, Brady criticized Biden's use of the franking privilege granted to members of Congress stating that he could have instead used campaign funds.^{[‡ 7]} She stated that if elected she would work to eliminate the privileges.^{[‡ 8]} Later in October she accused Biden of hiring staff from his presidential campaign to work for him in the Senate, labing it as an "abuse of public trust and a misuse of public funds". Ted Kaufman, Biden's chief of staff, stated that this wasn't unusual for a Senate Committee chairman.^[6]

Despite Brady being the only woman running for Senate in 1990, Biden was endorsed by various prominent women in the Government of Delaware.^[7]

Brady stated that she hoped to win the election without accepting donations from special interest groups.^{[‡ 9]} Brady's campaign raised around 245 thousand dollars spending most of it, her cash on hand by the end of the election was $4,117. Brady was heavily outspent by Biden who raised around 2.8 million dollars spending around 2.6 million. He ended his campaign with $190,151 left.^[8]

Biden, like most incumbents in the 1990 United States Senate elections, was reelected to another term.^[9] He won with 62.68 percent of the vote.^{[‡ 1]} A slight improvement on his previous margin of victory.^[10] On January 3, 1991, Biden was sworn in to the 102nd United States Congress by then-Vice President Dan Quayle alongside his fellow Senator-elects.^[11]

5 votes were cast for write-in candidates.^[12] The election had an under 40% turnout rate.^{[‡ 1]} Slightly higher than concurrent House of Representatives election for Delaware's at-large congressional district.^[12]

Both Biden and Rosenbaum performed worse than their Democrat and Libertarian counterparts in the election for the House district. However, Brady outperformed Republican nominee Ralph O'Williams by three percent.^[12] With the exception of Tom Carper in the House race, Biden outperformed all other Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian nominees for all of Delaware's at-large elections, including Attorney General, State Treasurer, and Auditor of Accounts. With exception of O'Williams, Brady underperformed the Republican nominees for all other at-large elections. Rosenbaum was the worst performing Libertarian nominee.^[4]

Biden won all three counties for the third election in a row.^[14][15] Biden's best performance was in New Castle County, where he won 62 percent of the vote to Brady's 36 percent. Brady's best performance was in Kent County, where she won around 40 percent of the vote to Biden's 58 percent, his lowest share of the vote. Kent County was also Rosenbaum's best performance where he won slightly under two percent. However, Kent County was not the county were Rosenbaum received the most votes. There he received less than 500 votes when he received 1,621 votes around 1.56% of the vote.^{[‡ 1]} New Castle County had the highest number of votes cast with 103 thousand, followed by Sussex County with 86 thousand.^[4]

Biden won all 41 representative districts, in the concurrent legislative election 24 Republican candidates won seats.^[16] He won all of them by a majority of the vote. Biden's best performance was in District 20 where he received 4,260 votes. Rosenbaum also saw his highest vote total in the district with 106 votes. District 20 was additionally the district where the highest total amount of votes were cast. Biden worst performance came in District 34 where he received 1,593 votes to Brady's 1,377. Brady saw her best performance in District 11 with 2,999 votes to Biden's 3,111.^[17]

In the text these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):

• Wrightson, Lewis C. (December 20, 1978). State of Delaware: Official Results of General Election 1978 (PDF). Delaware Department of Elections.
• Dennis, Virginia M. (January 16, 1985). State of Delaware: Official Results of General Election 1984 (PDF). Delaware Department of Elections.
• Harper, Richard B. (March 27, 1991). State of Delaware: Official Results of General Election 1990 (PDF). Delaware Department of Elections.