Christopher Andrew "Chris" Coons (born September 9, 1963) is the junior United States senator from Delaware and a member of the Democratic Party. He won a special election in 2010 to succeed Joe Biden, who had resigned to become Vice President. Previously, Coons was the county executive of New Castle County. Coons is the 1983 Truman Scholar from Delaware, and the first recipient of the award to serve in the United States Senate.

A native of Hockessin, Delaware, Coons graduated from Amherst College and received graduate degrees from Yale Divinity School and Yale Law School. He went to work as a volunteer relief worker in Kenya, where he had taken classes in the University of Nairobi, later returning to the U.S. to work for the Coalition for the Homeless in New York. He spent some time as a legal clerk in New York before returning to Delaware in 1996, where he spent eight years as in-house counsel for a materials manufacturing company. In the interim he worked for several nonprofit organizations.

Christine Therese O'Donnell (born August 27, 1969) is a former US Republican Party candidate who founded two advocacy organizations. She has been an advocate for nonprofit clients and nonprofit causes for nearly 20 years. A Tea Party favorite, and with strong financial support from the Tea Party movement, she defeated nine-term U.S. Representative and former governor Michael Castle in Delaware's September 2010 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. She lost the November 2010 U.S. Senate election in Delaware, to Democrat Chris Coons by a margin of 57% to 40%.

O'Donnell's 2010 Senate run was her third try for the office in five years. In the Senatorial election of 2008, she was the Republican nominee, losing to the incumbent, Joe Biden, by 65% to 35%. In 2006, she ran in the Republican primary for Senate, finishing third, then ran as a write-in in the general election, drawing 4 percent of the vote.

In addition to running for the Senate, O'Donnell has worked as a public relations and marketing consultant and has provided commentary on the Fox News Channel and CNN. She is politically conservative.

Thomas Richard "Tom" Carper (born January 23, 1947) is the senior United States Senator from Delaware and a member of the Democratic Party. He was previously the 71st Governor of Delaware and a member of the House of Representatives from Delaware.

A native of Danville, Virginia, Carper graduated from the Ohio State University. Serving as a Naval Flight Officer in the U.S. Navy from 1968 until 1973, he saw active duty in the Vietnam War. He remained in the U.S. Naval Reserve for another 18 years and retired with the rank of Captain. Upon receiving his MBA from the University of Delaware in 1975, Carper went to work for the State of Delaware in its economic development office. He was elected State Treasurer, serving from 1977 to 1983 and leading the development of Delaware's first cash management system.

Encouraged by local politicians, Carper successfully ran for Delaware's only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982. He served five terms in the House, where he chaired the Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization. In 1992 he arranged a "swap" with term-limited Governor Michael Castle, and the two were easily elected to each other's seats. Carper governed for two terms as a moderate, business-oriented "New Democrat", following the lead of the two previous Republican governors. He successfully prevented the closing of a General Motors automobile plant and won a bid for the headquarters of pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. He led a tax-reduction campaign and helped improve the state's credit rating from among the worst in the nation to an excellent "AAA". He pushed for standards-based education, among other reforms.