Why Should Delaware Care?
Alonna Berry’s victory allows Democrats to retain the seat previously held by Rep. Stell Parker Selby, and maintains the party’s three-fifths supermajority in the House. With Berry’s win, the district will once again have a voting member in Dover, and a representative to tackle some of the area’s most pressing development and infrastructure issues.
Democrat Alonna Berry narrowly won the Delaware House of Representatives District 20 special election Tuesday evening, beating out Republican Nikki Miller by just 121 votes out of more than 9,200 cast.
Her victory keeps the Lewes and Milton-area seat, previously held by former Rep. Stell Parker Selby, in Democratic hands.
It also allows Democrats to maintain a 2-member margin above their three-fifths supermajority in the House, holding 27 of the 41 seats. And it aids their quest to pick up one more seat next year for an overall two-thirds supermajority required to amend the Delaware Constitution.
Despite controversy surrounding the party’s response to Parker Selby’s prolonged absence from the 2025 Legislative Session, Democrats rallied around Berry, spending big on her campaign in recent days to propel her to a narrow victory.
“I am excited and ready to get to work,” Berry told Spotlight Delaware following her win on Tuesday night. “Representative District 20 cares about the issues and they want their voices to be heard, and I’m happy to be the person representing the district in Dover.”
Berry victory cam after a historic turnout in the special election. In total, 9,257 residents voted, representing a roughly 40% voter turnout rate.
The percentage broke Delaware’s previous record for the highest turnout in a special election, captured during a high-profile 2017 race for a Senate seat in Middletown.
Tackling the issues
Berry centered her campaign on bringing a voting representative back to Dover following Parker Selby’s absence, and improving the district’s infrastructure, roads and schools to keep pace with its rapid population growth.
Despite Berry’s campaign platform, a number of area Democrats said they were more focused on the trickle-down effects of national politics than any issues specific to District 20.
“Blue, baby, blue,” Lewes resident Arayanna Darst said about her decision to vote for Berry on Tuesday. “Ethics, honesty, trust, the Constitution and democracy are things I value.”
Lewes resident Mark Wolf, on the other hand, said he voted for Miller because she better aligns with vision for the future of the district.
“Crime in this area is getting worse, and I think that Republicans have a better plan,” he said.
Volunteers from both campaigns parked outside the district’s eight polling locations in Milton and Lewes from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, greeting voters, ringing cowbells and waving American flags.
Members of Miller’s team wore t-shirts in her campaign’s signature bright pink color, while Berry supporters donned blue “Alonna Berry” pins.
State Sen. Russell Huxtable (D-Lewes/Rehoboth Beach) tabled for Berry at Frederick Thomas Middle School in Lewes, while Rep. Daniel Short (R-Seaford) showed his support for Miller at the Lewes Public Library.
“I’m excited that we kept the seat blue. Alonna is going to do an amazing job as our state representative,” Jeff Balk, chair of the Sussex County Democratic Party, told Spotlight Delaware on Tuesday night. “She’s already filed for the 2026 election and her campaign staff is ready to gear up and get her re-elected in 2026.”
Voter turnout was on track to surpass previous special election numbers following the tallying of 6,684 early ballots, Sussex County Department of Elections Director Bo McDowell said on Tuesday afternoon.
McDowell said he was not surprised by the numbers because the Lewes area tends to have the best voter turnout in the county.
“It wasn’t unexpected that they would come out and vote because they always do,” McDowell said.
A closely watched race
The abbreviated campaign, however, also drew particular attention because of the circumstances surrounding Parker Selby’s resignation earlier this summer.
After suffering a stroke in late 2024, Parker Selby missed the entire legislative session and party leadership barely acknowledged the absence for months. The episode, prodded by local media reporting, sparked outcry from many District 20 residents, and led to a bout of intra-party fighting among Democrats at the statehouse.
To keep the seat and turn the narrative, Democrats significantly outspent Republicans during the abbreviated campaign for the House seat, according to campaign finance reports.
Berry’s campaign committee and Democrat-leaning political organizations spent about $100,000 in the roughly month-long campaign. Berry also received endorsements from prominent Delaware Democrats, including Gov. Matt Meyer and U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride.
Miller’s campaign, in contrast, spent about $22,000 in July, according to her campaign finance reports.
While turnout for the special election was substantially lower than for most primary or general election races, which tends to be in the 40% to 60% range, according to the state department of elections, it was higher than special elections held in the Wilmington area earlier this year to fill two vacated State Senate seats, where fewer than 6,000 voters turned out for each.
Berry and Miller both seem to have their eye on the future. They have each already filed to run for the District 20 House seat in next year’s general election, setting the stage for a possible rematch next November.
Maggie Reynolds is a Report for America corps member and Spotlight Delaware reporter who covers rural communities in Delaware. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://spotlightdelaware.org/support/.
