Incumbent Republican Governor Charles R. Miller declined to run for re-election.

At the time, the Republican Party was in the middle of a schism that had first developed during the 1912 presidential election.

[1] However, the schism did not affect the gubernatorial nomination; though there were rumors that the state party convention might seek to nominate Governor Miller for a second term,[2] former State Representative John G. Townsend Jr. was seen as the frontrunner heading into the convention.

[3] He received the nomination without much difficulty[4] and the Republican Party solidified around him its gubernatorial nominee.

Though President Woodrow Wilson had won Delaware in 1912 with a plurality, he narrowly lost it this year.