Democratic U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride has won reelection to Delaware’s lone U.S. House seat, defeating Republican challenger Joseph Arminio in Tuesday’s general election.
The Associated Press called the race for McBride at 8:50 p.m. As of 8:50 p.m., McBride currently has about 68% of the vote, with about 35% of the ballots counted.
McBride’s victory gives her a second consecutive term representing Delaware in Congress. First elected in 2024, she became the first openly transgender person elected to Congress. Democrats have held Delaware’s at-large House seat since 2010.
The race focused on the economy, health care, immigration and U.S. foreign policy. McBride campaigned on lowering the cost of living and expanding access to services for working families, while Arminio argued that private and public debt are major drivers of the country’s economic challenges.
At a Democratic Party watch party along Wilmington’s Riverfront, candidates gathered Tuesday night to await election results and address supporters. One by one, nominees took the podium to speak to the crowd. U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride addressed the room following her reelection, pointing to what she described as Delaware’s growing commitment to judging candidates by their ideas rather than their identities.
“Tonight, thanks to a super majority of Delawareans, including majorities in all three counties, everyone can see what I see every single day: that Delawareans are compassionate people, that we are fair-minded, that we judge candidates based on their ideas and not their identities,” McBride said. “That is the Delaware that I know. That is the Delaware that I love and that is the state that I will get to continue to serve in the United States House of Representatives.”
McBride also connected the results in Delaware to broader national debates over immigration enforcement, saying voters support border security alongside a humane immigration system.
“I believe that tonight’s results not just here in Delaware, but across the country reinforce that the American people believe that yes, we should have secure borders, but we should have a humane immigration system that follows the law,” she said. “I hope that Congress will hold the administration’s feet to the fire and ensure that federal immigration enforcement officers at a minimum are required to follow the same rules and same requirements and the same guardrails as local and state law enforcement.”
McBride also reflected on the priorities she hopes to advance in Washington during her second term, pointing to the need for a more accountable approach to federal immigration enforcement.
“My North Star at this moment is lowering the cost of health care, housing, childcare, gas and groceries,” McBride told WHYY News in an interview last month. “That means reversing the food assistance and health care cuts. It means leading the charge toward universal health coverage and affordable childcare for every family who needs it. It means building the homes of tomorrow that make homeownership within reach.”
McBride also said Congress needs to address how emerging technologies affect workers and hold the Trump administration accountable for its foreign policy decisions.
“It means regulating new technologies so that we protect the American worker and we do not make the rich richer. It means ending these forever wars by holding this administration accountable,” she added.
