Editing Sussex County, Delaware (section)

==Government==
Unlike Northern Delaware, particularly [[New Castle County, Delaware|New Castle County]], Sussex County is highly conservative. Sussex County has only supported a Democrat for president three times since 1944.

This was the only county in Delaware that [[Barack Obama]] did not carry in either of his presidential bids, despite the presence of Delawarean [[Joe Biden]] on the ballot. Biden himself lost the county by 11 points in his own successful bid for president in [[2020 United States presidential election|2020]]. Nonetheless, while Sussex County rejected the Obama-Biden presidential ticket in [[2008 United States presidential election in Delaware|2008]], Biden carried it in his simultaneous [[2008 United States Senate election in Delaware|2008 Senate]] run (as he did in six of his seven successful Senate campaigns), meaning some voters in the county rejected Biden as a vice presidential candidate while simultaneously supporting him for Senate.

{{PresHead|place=Sussex County, Delaware|source1=<ref>{{cite web |title = Dave Leip's Atlas of United States Presidential Elections |access-date = November 10, 2024 |url = http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/ |archive-date = September 19, 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190919054213/https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/ |url-status = live }}</ref>}}
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|81,025|64,836|1,903|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|71,230|56,682|1,440|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|62,611|39,333|4,162|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|52,119|39,975|1,135|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|47,939|40,299|832|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|47,003|30,098|651|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|34,620|29,739|1,928|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|22,187|23,191|6,634|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1992|Republican|20,440|19,174|12,951|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|27,129|16,504|142|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|28,337|13,629|126|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|19,472|15,973|1,934|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|17,153|18,552|363|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|21,964|11,630|410|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|15,618|11,671|5,777|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|14,305|17,971|97|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|16,392|15,472|229|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|16,621|13,697|112|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|17,257|15,054|210|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1948|Republican|13,636|11,522|124|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|11,895|10,678|73|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|11,853|13,206|0|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|11,996|12,799|37|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|10,632|12,618|52|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|12,884|7,163|54|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|10,120|8,668|225|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|9,747|8,448|0|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1916|Republican|6,032|5,649|64|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|4,466|5,551|1,357|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|5,870|5,013|140|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|5,915|4,407|151|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1900|Republican|4,961|4,364|133|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1896|Republican|4,541|3,826|221|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1892|Democratic|4,147|4,279|100|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1888|Republican|4,046|3,982|111|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1884|Democratic|3,018|4,447|10|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1880|Democratic|3,373|3,993|83|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1876|Democratic|2,763|3,490|0|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1872|Republican|2,849|2,778|269|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1868|Democratic|1,883|3,136|0|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1864|Democratic|2,229|2,552|0|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1860|Southern Democratic|664|204|3,829|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1856|Democratic|1|2,344|2,020|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1852|Whig|1,934|1,858|0|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1848|Democratic|1,852|1,856|0|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1844|Democratic|1,869|1,877|0|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1840|Whig|2,053|1,593|0|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1836|Whig|1,857|1,300|0|Delaware}}
{{PresRow|1832|Whig|1,774|1,383|0|Delaware}}
|}

Sussex County's government is composed of an elected [[county council]] and various elective executive heads of departments. The [[county council]] has five members, who serve four-year terms; all are elected from [[single-member districts]]. They form the legislative authority of the county, and choose a "County Administrator" or executive.

The county council members are Council President Michael H. Vincent (R, District 1), Cynthia Green (R, District 2), Mark Schaeffer (R, District 3), Douglas B. Hudson (R, District 4), and Vice President John L. Rieley (R, District 5).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sussex County Council |url=https://sussexcountyde.gov/county-council |access-date=April 8, 2023 |website=sussexcountyde.gov}}</ref>

The additional offices of [[Clerk of the Peace]], [[Register of Deeds]], Register of Wills and [[Sheriff]] are elected [[at-large]].<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Sussex County Council|url=http://www.sussexcountyde.gov/about/structure/index.cfm|title=Sussex County – Government Structure|access-date=December 16, 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061026101705/http://www.sussexcountyde.gov/about/structure/index.cfm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = October 26, 2006}}</ref>  These positions are held by Norman A. Jones Jr. (R), Alexandra Reed Baker (R), Gregory Fuller (R), and Robert Lee (R), respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sussex County Government |url=https://sussexcountyde.gov/your-government |access-date=April 8, 2023 |website=sussexcountyde.gov}}</ref>

Sussex County is split between five state senate districts and nine state house districts.

[[Delaware Senate|State Senate]]:

*District 6  – [[Russ Huxtable]] (D)
*District 18 – [[David L. Wilson]] (R)
*District 19 – [[Brian G. Pettyjohn]] (R)
*District 20 – [[Gerald Hocker]] (R)
*District 21 – [[Bryant Richardson]] (R)

[[Delaware House of Representatives|State House of Representatives]]:

*District 14 – [[Pete Schwartzkopf]] (D)
*District 20 – [[Esthelda Parker Selby|Stell Parker Selby]] (D) 
*District 35 – [[Jesse Vanderwende]] (R)
*District 36 – [[Bryan Shupe]] (R)
*District 37 – [[Ruth Briggs King]] (R)
*District 38 – [[Ronald E. Gray]] (R)
*District 39 – [[Daniel Short]] (R)
*District 40 – [[Timothy Dukes]] (R)
*District 41 – [[Richard Collins (politician)|Richard Collins]] (R)