State reference

How does government work in Delaware?

Delaware’s legislature, governor, courts, local governments and election offices, with a source for every fact.

Facts checked November 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify from a source is left out rather than guessed. Rules change, so confirm deadlines with the official election office.

State legislators

Legislature

4 years

Governor’s term

Governor

Counties

Local

Seat in the US House

Clerk of the House

Foundation: Delaware Constitution of 1897 source
In effect since: 1897 source

What may surprise you here

Delaware has no intermediate appeals court. Cases go from trial courts straight to the Supreme Court. source
Delaware has a separate Court of Chancery alongside its Superior Court and Family Court. source

Legislature

Name: General Assembly source
Senate: seats: 21 source
Senate: term in years: 4 source
House of Representatives: seats: 41 source
House of Representatives: term in years: 2 source
Term limits: None source

Structure set by: {'v': 'Article II, Section 1', 'src': 'https://delcode.delaware.gov/constitution/constitution-03.shtml', 'kind': 'primary', 'ev': 'The legislative power of this State shall be vested in a General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.'}.

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years: 4 source
Term limit: Two terms in total source
Next regular election: 2028 source
Lieutenant governor: separate election source
Attorney general: elected source
Attorney general’s term in years: 4 source
Secretary of state: appointed by governor source

Courts

Highest court: Supreme Court source
Intermediate appeals court: None source
Main trial court: Superior Court source
How high-court judges reach the bench: gubernatorial appointment source

Local government

Called: county source
How many: 3 source
Cities and towns: Delaware has 57 municipal governments and no township governments, as of the 2022 Census of Governments. source
Schools: Delaware has 19 independent school districts, as of the 2022 Census of Governments. source

Elections

Chief election official: State Election Commissioner source
Who runs elections locally: County directors source
Primary type: closed source
Regular governor elections fall in: even source
Citizen initiatives: no source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Matt Meyer Democratic, in office since January 21, 2025. source

US senators for Delaware
Senator	Party	Seat	Senator since	Current term ends
Lisa Blunt Rochester	Democratic	Class 1	January 3, 2025	January 3, 2031
Christopher A. Coons	Democratic	Class 2	November 15, 2010	January 3, 2027

Members of the House for Delaware
Seat	Member	Party	In the House since
At large	Sarah McBride	Democratic	January 3, 2025

Boundaries for the 119th Congress, simplified from the Census Bureau cartographic boundary file. For an exact address, use the House lookup.

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Senate seat, Class 1