Get Involved: Election Day, Sussex celebrates Return Day, Lewes townhomes

Why Should Delaware Care?
Government works best when its citizens are knowledgeable and engaged. Delaware’s government has scores of commissions, working groups, agencies and legislative committees. All must hold meetings that are open to the public. Below we highlight a few of those meetings that are happening this week.

Below are some of the most important or interesting public meetings happening around the state this week.

• Tuesday is Election Day
• Sussex County celebrates Return Day on Thursday
• State planners discuss townhomes near Lewes on Wednesday

The 2026 midterm elections are here

After a busy several months of campaigning across Delaware, the 2026 general election will take place on Tuesday. 

While there are 77 seats up for grabs in federal, state and county races in Tuesday’s general election, there are a handful of races that will draw outsized attention due to their close electorate, campaign spending or controversial candidates.

Democrats are aiming to protect their incumbents and flip at least one Republican seat in the state House of Representatives, which would give them a two-thirds supermajority that would allow them to amend the state Constitution without bipartisan support.

That fact has become a cause for Delaware Republicans as they look to protect their seats and find at least one flip of their own.

Spotlight Delaware will be reporting on how the day unfolds through our Election Day Live Blog. You can stay up to date with those latest happenings and more through the Spotlight Delaware Election Center.

📍Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. across the state. You can check your voter registration and find your designated polling location here.

Candidates come together for Return Day

A more than 200-year-old Delaware tradition will return to Georgetown on Thursday, as residents, candidates — both winners and losers alike — and other state and local leaders gather for Return Day. 

Held on the Thursday after Election Day on even-numbered years, Return Day celebrates the tradition of Sussex County residents — who once had to cast their ballots in Georgetown, the county seat — returning to hear the results from those elections read aloud. 

Its official beginnings are a bit unclear and could date back to as early as 1792, but Return Day celebrations have grown into much more of a spectacle than simply listening to election results being read aloud. 

The day features a parade of winning and losing candidates riding together in horse drawn carriages and convertibles, an ox roast with free sandwiches, and even a ceremonial hatchet burying where Democratic, Republican and Independent Party leaders proverbially put the campaigning behind them by literally burying a hatchet in a box of sand.

📍 Return Day festivities will begin at 8:30 a.m. in Georgetown, and the parade will step off at 1:30 p.m. For more information, click here.

Planners discuss Lewes-area townhomes

A state board will review a more than 400-unit townhouse project near Lewes on Wednesday.

The proposal, dubbed Vintners Reserve, includes 370 market-rate townhomes and 67 income-restricted townhomes that will be part of Sussex County’s affordable housing program.

It is located on farmland just north of Route 9 and west of Route 1, next to Nassau Valley Vineyards. Delaware’s Preliminary Land Use Service, a state board that coordinates early reviews of developments, will give feedback on the project at its next meeting.

Vintners Reserve would only be the third development built under the Sussex County Rental Program since the program began in 2008. Sussex County Council reformed the program in June to try to attract more developments.

📍 The Preliminary Land Use Service (PLUS) will meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday inside the Haslet Armory, located at 122 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Dover. For more information, including on virtual attendance, click here.

Olivia Marble contributed to this report.

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