Clap to Biden in his home state as Democratic Senator and longtime ally Tom Carper, 76, says he will NOT seek re-election in Delaware
- Carper, a longtime ally of Biden, has decided to withdraw from frontline politics
- He served alongside the president when he was a senator
- The 76-year-old will formally retire on January 3, 2025
Delaware Senator Tom Carper, a longtime ally of Joe Biden, will retire in 2025 after deciding at age 76 not to seek re-election next year.
Carper, who first won his seat in 2000, has been at the forefront of Democratic politics for decades in the state where Biden also served as a senator.
“If there is ever an opportune time to step aside and pass the torch to the next generation, it will come and it will be here on January 3, 2025 at noon,” said the Vietnam War veteran .
Carper said Monday he will not be seeking re-election next week and will formally step down in January 2025
The long-serving senator is an ally of Joe Biden and a Vietnam veteran
He had considered quitting in 2018, but decided to run for his fourth term due to doubts about who would replace him and his personal concerns about a Donald Trump presidency.
Carper also served as governor and congressman for Delaware before entering the Senate, winning a total of 14 statewide elections.
He was first elected to Delaware at the tender age of 29 — the same age Biden became a senator — as state treasurer.
It means there will be another open primary battle for safe Democratic seats as Dianne Feinstein, Debbie Stabenow and Ben Cardin also plan to resign.
The front runner is Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, a congressman who has represented Delaware in the lower chamber since 2017.
“If the seat were open, I would definitely consider it,” she said of the potential Senate position that could potentially guarantee the 61-year-old a job for life.
If Blunt Rochester competes and wins, she would be the only black and female senator in office. But she has not formally stated that she intends to do so.
Blunt Rochester has also been a key ally of President Biden, who has held significant political weight in the state he has represented in the Senate for nearly four decades.
And Carper seemed to throw his weight behind her potential candidacy just after announcing his impending retirement.
“We love Lisa, and I talked to her this morning and I said you’ve been patiently waiting for me to get out of the way, and I’m getting out of the way, and I hope you run,” he said.
Blunt Rochester worked as an intern for Carper when he served in the House of Representatives.
Chris Coons, who also represents Delaware in the Senate, praised Carper for “working across the aisle, solving complex problems and making a lasting difference.”
Carper spent 23 years in the United States military before entering politics, serving three tours in Vietnam.
He often takes the Amtrak train home to Delaware every night to spend time with his wife and has been seen driving across the state in a minibus, sometimes shirtless.
Never an easy politician to distill down to a quick soundbite, Carper praised some of the Republicans he enjoyed working with throughout his Senate career.
“I would get a lot more media attention if I said hateful things about Shelley Capito and John Cornyn,” Carper said, referring to the two GOP senators. ‘But not me. They are my friends.’
Senate National Committee spokesperson Tate Mitchell taunted Carper, saying his move was merely preemptive ahead of a huge Republican victory in the next election.
“Senate Democrats keep backing out because they know they’re going to lose the majority,” he said.