2026 race

DE at-large — U.S. House

2 candidates on the November ballot. Incumbent: Sarah McBride.

Read the record. Not the rhetoric.

See where these candidates stand — and who's funding them.

DeepSyte tracks the money and the record in every race against the issues you care about — not party, not press releases. Take the 2-minute values quiz to see your alignment.

How we got here · 2 earlier contests
Democratic primary · Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Called by audit: web-verified
Sarah McBrideWon
Republican primary · Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Called by AP (8:55 p.m.)
Joseph "Dr. Joe" ArminioWon47.8%
  • RJohn WhalenDefeated32.2%
  • REarl CooperDefeated20.0%
Election held
Counting
Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Results appear here once a race is called and verified. Official returns from the Delaware Department of Elections.

Disclosed money in race
$5.6M
Candidate + outside spending. See finance breakdown below.
Incumbent

Currently in office

Challengers

Sorted by fundraising

Joseph "Dr. Joe" Arminio

R
ChallengerFEC H6DE01121

Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.

Raised this cycle$12K
Cash on hand: $7K
2 defeated candidates — show

John Whalen

RDefeated
ChallengerFEC H4DE00078

Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.

Raised this cycle$2K
Cash on hand: $6K

Earl Cooper

RDefeated
ChallengerFEC H4DE01092

Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.

Raised this cycle$0
Cash on hand: $0
Local signal

Early read on DE at-large — U.S. House

A directional read on where this seat is trending, from the signals we have so far. This is an early scaffold — more inputs light up as coverage and constituent activity accrue.

Coverage tone · the matchup
Recent news coverage of the nominees heading to the general election.
Sarah McBrideleans negative
0 pos3 neutral1 neg4 articles
Joseph "Dr. Joe" Arminiolimited coverage
No coverage in our tracked outlets in the last 90 days.
A media signal, not a poll of the district.
Constituent stakes
No one here has staked a position on a tracked vote yet. As neighbors weigh in on /pressure campaigns, the district's lean will show up here.
Money in the race

Finance breakdown

Disclosed funding shaping this race — both the money candidates raise themselves and the outside spending dropped by independent groups. Issue-ad spending by 501(c)(4) groups is excluded; the FEC doesn't require disclosure of it. See the note below for details.

Candidate fundraising: FEC reports through October 14, 2026 · 2025–26 cycle

Total disclosed
$5.6M
Candidate fundraising + independent expenditures (FEC).
Candidate-direct (Schedule A)
$5.6M
Raised by candidate committees themselves.
Outside spending (Schedule E)
$20
$20 for · $0 against
CandidateRaised directlyOutside forOutside againstNet in corner
Sarah McBride(D)incumbent
+ SIERRA CLUB INDEPENDENT ACTION $10
+ GIVEGREEN UNITED ACTION $10
$5.6M$20—$5.6M
Joseph "Dr. Joe" Arminio(R)
$12K——$12K
2 defeated candidates — show finances
CandidateRaised directlyOutside forOutside againstNet in corner
John Whalen(R)defeated
$2K——$2K
Earl Cooper(R)defeated
$0——$0
Where the money comes from

In-state vs out-of-state

Share of each candidate's itemized individual contributions from donors inside DE versus the rest of the country. Excludes sub-$200 unitemized donations (no geography on file) and PAC money — see note below.

Sarah McBride(D)24% in-state · $3.3M itemized
$775K in-state$2.5M out-of-state
Joseph "Dr. Joe" Arminio(R)0% in-state · $2K itemized
$0 in-state$2K out-of-state
1 defeated candidate — show
John Whalen(R)defeated0% in-state · $500 itemized
$0 in-state$500 out-of-state
What's counted, what isn't

Candidate-direct is each campaign's reported receipts on FEC Schedule A — individual contributions plus PAC contributions to the candidate's own committee — through the most recent filing.

Outside spending is independent expenditures on FEC Schedule E: money spent by PACs, super PACs, and party committees for or against a candidate, without legal coordination with the campaign. The committees listed under each candidate are the largest disclosed spenders on either side.

In-state vs out-of-state covers only itemized individual contributions — donations over $200, which are the only ones that carry a contributor address at the FEC. Sub-$200 unitemized donations (often a large share for grassroots campaigns) have no geography on file and are excluded, as is PAC money. So the percentages describe where a candidate's itemized individual money comes from, not where every dollar raised comes from.

Not counted: 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organizations run issue ads that frequently mention candidates by name but aren't classified as express advocacy under FEC rules — they file no Schedule E and don't appear in this breakdown. Press reporting on a race may cite figures that include this dark-money spending; ours doesn't.

Where they stand

Issue-by-issue comparison

Positions extracted from each candidate's campaign issues page by AI. Contested rows — where candidates disagree with each other — appear first.

StatementMcbrideArminioYou
Criminal Justice
The federal government should send more money to local police departments.
—
Economy
The federal minimum wage should be raised.
—
Economy
The federal government should require employers to provide paid family and medical leave.
—
Housing
The government should spend more building affordable housing.
—

SupportsOpposesNo public positionRinged = confirmed by the campaign

About this race page

Candidate roster is sourced from the FEC's active-candidate list for the 2026 cycle. Fundraising totals reflect committee filings through the last reporting period.

Alignment % compares the candidate's extracted policy positions against your quiz answers. Positions are pulled from the candidate's campaign issues page by AI; we save the source quote for each position so you can verify the extraction. Candidates without a campaign issues page show position data pending — we're working through the roster and re-checking stale extractions every 90 days.

News coverage is from the GDELT 2.0 global news feed, filtered to a curated list of national, political, and regional outlets.